Thursday, December 11, 2008

LIVE at chemo-Dec 11

Greetings from the 4th floor of Mercy Outpatient Cancer Center. I'm (Susan) here with Sarah for her 3rd chemo treatment.  This is a lovely facility and Sarah is quite popular.  Greg is home with a crummy cold, Louisa is with Mom in Hagerstown and we're enjoying quality sister time- we've updated cell phone contacts, talked about movies and worked on christmas lists!  

So here is how the day went:

7:00 am- Sarah dressed and ready to go wakes me up, makes me a latte!! She has a tea latte and bagel with cream cheese. I have raisin bread with butter!

7:45 we arrive at Mercy, greeted by great valet
8:00 Sarah checks in, changes name to married Christopher with updated insurance card
8:45 Sarah in her cubical area, nice view of hotel across the street, rainy day- 40 degrees.
Her blood was taken and we're waiting to get started.

1:00 Sarah is receiving meds- first stuff is to help her accept the chemo drugs.  The chemo therapy drugs she receives are Carboplatin and Docetaxel.    It took a bit longer to get her blood work, all looks fine. Marker number is the same and that is good.

We had lunch- Sarah had me grab some fresh air and walk to a great Greek place where she use to eat when she worked downtown.  We enjoyed yummy pitas with lots of veggies. Then Sarah tried the hospital chix noodle soup and chix salad- not bad.  Good to see her with appetite to tide her over when the chemo kicks in an appetite disappears. 

2:07 Sarah is uncomfortable- restlessness due to steroids in meds- slowing down chemo being administered....she is such a polite nice patient- they all want things to go well for her.

4:30  Sarah finally was able to fall asleep and finish the 1st chemo and start the 2nd.  She is resting very well now. She is so peaceful and needed this, plus it is the better way to let the chemo enter her body. The last two nights have prevented sleep- she has pre-med to prepare her, help with side affects- it is the steroids that limit her sleep and give her body impulses to move.

5:30 Sarah wakes up at the very end of the 2nd chemo and we're out of there.....next appointments confirmed- she'll go in tomorrow for an injection to boost white blood cells, she goes weekly for blood checks and the next chemo is December 31st.  

The above is fyi about what goes on during chemo days.

Yesterday's shopping and lunch was quite special.  We realized that I've now known Greg three years- we met at Mom's 65th birthday party- boy have they been busy!  It was great to celebrate Mom's birthday with lunch at Nordies.  After Mom left with Louisa, we had some big time shopping- taking in just about all of Towson Town Center.  My goal was to help Sarah with activity so she could sleep- the night before chemo usually is sleep free. My efforts failed- the meds she takes to help with chemo got in the way...oh well!  She needed some new pants and we found some great deals while shopping.

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