posted Tuesday, 23 August 2005
So Michael picked me up yesterday morning and we headed off to Virtua for treatment #2. We stopped for breakfast at "Cosmo's" - my new favortie breakfast place (well, besides Java Moon Cafe on Quakerbridge Rd- but that's a different kind of breakfast place... Cosmo's = fried egg sandwich... Java Moon Cafe = french toast with peanut butter, banana and pecans)... but anyways, I digress.
Same drill as last time, except this time, the nurse didn't hold my hand... so I had to keep going back to the front desk saying "ok I got my labs done... do I just go back to the chemo room now?" I've lost 4 pounds since last time... which I first found surprising, but then realized that 3-4 days of <1000 calories could do that to a person... plus, I think I am starting to lose some of my muscle mass, which kind of stinks, but what can you do?
I thought about sitting in the big room this time, but chickened out and went and sat in the exact same chair as last time. Something about forming a routine I guess. Hilary (Nancy's buddy from RU) is a pharmacist in the hospital and she stopped by to visit briefly. Michael had run out to Target to get headphones for my new DVD player (thanks again Abby!) This time, the "quiet room" really was quiet. The 3 other people pretty much slept the whole time. Meanwhile, Michael and I talked, giggled and watched Friends. He came back to my house and got me settled. Watched Princess Bride - since MJ had never seen it (!) and hung out for a while.
I got my dr to write me a new Zofran prescription. The first one he wrote was for only 6 pills, which means I need to refill it every 2 weeks (I take it 2x daily for 3 days after chemo) ... so he wrote one for 24 pills and I filled it at CVS. I noticed, however, that the new bottle said take one every 6 hours... which seemed odd. I took a pill at 8pm and unfortunately didn't quite give it time to absorb into my bloodstream. Michael started chatting with me about how friends wanted to bring over food for me- what was good, what was bad... and my stomach started to rumble... hmmm... I guess the stories about chemo are actually true... so anyways, after I showered and cleaned up, I called the pharmacy - they didn't even look it up and just said that the Dr must have written the new script differently - but I went on line and looked at the dosing info and it says every 12 hours... hmmm.. so I called my dr... he told me to a) take only one every 12 hours... b) take another one immediately and c) take a compazine (my backup med, which I had already done). Good thing I know a few things about pharma or I could have been OD'ing on anti-nausea meds!
Matt came over that evening and brought me some groceries (essentials-milk, butter, cottage cheese & melon).
I felt much better today. I ate a little fruit & cottage cheese for breakfast. Nancy came over this afternoon. I gave myself my shot today and didn't even chicken out! Then she made me some mac & cheese and broccoli florets... I had two servings! Granted, each serving was like two spoonfuls, but hey - I'm not complaining. Hopefully the nausea will stay at bay and we'll be done with 25% of the chemo!
Tune in tommorow to check out my new look - Nancy is planning to practice her barber-shop skills (and I'm not talking about the quarter kind of skills) tonight , once Crash gets here (for moral support)... My scalp started to feel funny last night (like when you've been wearing your hair in a ponytail all day and you take it down and your head feels kind of sore) and today it's starting to shed - I don't feel like dealing with the mess everywhere, so somethings got to be done!
I hope you are all well!
Same drill as last time, except this time, the nurse didn't hold my hand... so I had to keep going back to the front desk saying "ok I got my labs done... do I just go back to the chemo room now?" I've lost 4 pounds since last time... which I first found surprising, but then realized that 3-4 days of <1000 calories could do that to a person... plus, I think I am starting to lose some of my muscle mass, which kind of stinks, but what can you do?
I thought about sitting in the big room this time, but chickened out and went and sat in the exact same chair as last time. Something about forming a routine I guess. Hilary (Nancy's buddy from RU) is a pharmacist in the hospital and she stopped by to visit briefly. Michael had run out to Target to get headphones for my new DVD player (thanks again Abby!) This time, the "quiet room" really was quiet. The 3 other people pretty much slept the whole time. Meanwhile, Michael and I talked, giggled and watched Friends. He came back to my house and got me settled. Watched Princess Bride - since MJ had never seen it (!) and hung out for a while.
I got my dr to write me a new Zofran prescription. The first one he wrote was for only 6 pills, which means I need to refill it every 2 weeks (I take it 2x daily for 3 days after chemo) ... so he wrote one for 24 pills and I filled it at CVS. I noticed, however, that the new bottle said take one every 6 hours... which seemed odd. I took a pill at 8pm and unfortunately didn't quite give it time to absorb into my bloodstream. Michael started chatting with me about how friends wanted to bring over food for me- what was good, what was bad... and my stomach started to rumble... hmmm... I guess the stories about chemo are actually true... so anyways, after I showered and cleaned up, I called the pharmacy - they didn't even look it up and just said that the Dr must have written the new script differently - but I went on line and looked at the dosing info and it says every 12 hours... hmmm.. so I called my dr... he told me to a) take only one every 12 hours... b) take another one immediately and c) take a compazine (my backup med, which I had already done). Good thing I know a few things about pharma or I could have been OD'ing on anti-nausea meds!
Matt came over that evening and brought me some groceries (essentials-milk, butter, cottage cheese & melon).
I felt much better today. I ate a little fruit & cottage cheese for breakfast. Nancy came over this afternoon. I gave myself my shot today and didn't even chicken out! Then she made me some mac & cheese and broccoli florets... I had two servings! Granted, each serving was like two spoonfuls, but hey - I'm not complaining. Hopefully the nausea will stay at bay and we'll be done with 25% of the chemo!
Tune in tommorow to check out my new look - Nancy is planning to practice her barber-shop skills (and I'm not talking about the quarter kind of skills) tonight , once Crash gets here (for moral support)... My scalp started to feel funny last night (like when you've been wearing your hair in a ponytail all day and you take it down and your head feels kind of sore) and today it's starting to shed - I don't feel like dealing with the mess everywhere, so somethings got to be done!
I hope you are all well!
1. Katie left...
Wednesday, 24 August 2005 8:59 pm
Hey baby, Thanks for the updates. It is so good to be able to read this and be many miles away. It sounds like you have many pals taking care of you, I am glad. I know exactly what you are talking about with that whole ponytail left in to long thing, eck. congrats on 25%.
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