It's hard to keep the lump out of your throat when you drive in the neighborhood and every tree in the tree lawn has a pink ribbon tied to it.  This completely and beautifully foiled the opening I had planned for this post.  I had planned to lead with 1 down, 5 to go, but what a way to come home.


Cathy is such a trooper.  We arrived at the oncologist at about 9:10.  Cathy got her bloodwork done and then told Marty and I to come back to meet with Dr. Drosick and then his nurse, Margaret.  Dr. Drosick reviewed the medicine Cathy would get and the procedures.  He reevaluated the tumor and gauged it at 3 cm, which is about the same size it has been.  That's reassuring.  Margaret went over all the chemo stuff, which was a lot of information to process.


We went on to the treatment room.  The treatment room is very large and shoebox shaped with nurses desks on either side of the entry and treatment areas on either extreme end of the room.  In the middle, across from the nurses desks, were some table with puzzles and books to pass the time.  Cathy chose a chair on the "quiet" end.  The people on the quiet end told us that the other end was the "rowdy" side.  The "rowdy" side has a TV and the "quiet" side doesn't.  We waited a long time while they got all the paperwork set up.  Once everything was set, nurse Carol poked Cathy's port with a really weird looking butterfly needle.  She got about an hour and a half of premeds all hung in bags.  These included:


Emend - for nausea
Zofran - for nausea
Dexamethasone - a steroid for something I can't remember
Benadryl - to avoid allergic reactions
Zantac - to prevent burping up right away


After that the chemo came.  There were three drugs in succession:


Adriamycin - bright read and pushed through a syringe while mixed with saline
Cytoxan - hung in a bag
Taxotere - hung in a bag


The Benadryl made Cathy really sleepy, so she had a good nap for about an hour or so.  She feels pretty good right now.  She will take Zofran tomorrow morning to help with the nausea and then Compazine if she needs it.  You would never know by looking at her that she's full of completely toxic materials.  She has such an amazing spirit.  She had such calm and presence the whole time.  She made me feel more at ease.  I was, and still am, extremely nervous about chemo.  I just don't know what to expect and don't want Cathy to suffer.  We will stay on top of the nausea meds in hopes of avoiding that suffering.


Tomorrow will bring a shot of Neulasta to boost white blood cells.  Thursday, if she can manage it, she will have a baseline EKG, then Monday an appointment with the oncology nurse practitioner, Andy to follow up.  Here we go!