Infusion time!

In preparing for my first chemo session, we get hit with the hottest day of the summer.  We don't have our ac units up.  Amy, being the wonder woman of a roommate she is, gets the AC units up and sterilizes the apartment.  I put all my goodies in my chemo bag (cherry gingham bag that cooper let me borrow). The bag contains:
Black Ninja (stuffed toy given by Cooper)
Lemon Drops (thanks Jenn)
Wonder Woman Barbie Doll (thanks Rose)
"Believe" card (thanks Jenn)
White blanket with the those ball thingys (thanks Jamie)
Lip Balm
MacBook
Picture of my dad

Also, I have been playing phone tag with my cardiologist to hear the results of my Cardiac MRI. On the last vm from her she says to just page her when I get in for chemo.

June 8 2011

Good morning chemo day!  Minos takes me to my first infusion.  He keeps me laughing and distracted so that's good.  I check in.  I get called back to get my blood drawn to check my white blood cells, neutrophils and such.  20 minutes later I get called back and get taken to my room.  As I am walking back one of the nurses, Diane, comments on my blue nail polish.  Then Minos had to mention my toes were painted purple.  Diane was not having it.  She went around and told all the nurses that my nails weren't matching.  Seriously?!  It was actually funny and I am leaving a few things out:)

I walk into my room.  I set my table up with all the goodies from my bag and call it my inspiration station.  I meet my chemo nurse, Celia, for the first time.  She actually went to school with Minos so it was quite entertaining to hear some stories.  I page Dr. R, my cardiologist. Celia preps my arm and starts my IV and gets me going with the anti-nausea meds.  Dr. R calls me back and explains the results of my MRI.  The tumor is not pressing on the heart and my ejection fraction is low again.  She explains now that we have 2 tests confirming a low ejection fraction and she is wondering if my coronary arteries are "hooked up" wrong.  This could be something I was born with.  She wants to do a CT scan of my coronary arteries to see if that is the problem.  She explains she thinks there is a small chance I have this issue and actually thinks that the disease in the area may be causing the low ejection fraction.  She thinks once treatment continues it should go back to normal and that I will need another echo in August to assess the heart again.  She then said her nurse will call me to get the CT scheduled.

I finish my anti-nausea meds and my heart meds.  It's time for chemo.  Celia first puts a sample of the Bleomycin in to see if I have an allergic reaction to it.  It's all good.

I get a call from the cardiology nurse and end up having a 30 minute conversation with her as to what I am supposed to do and next appts and such.  But as I am talking to her, Celia is waiting to administer my next chemo med Adriamycin which has to be administered by her.  I am overwhelmed with all the information about my heart and anxiously waiting for the chemo to begin.  They really should have explained all of this to me earlier but it is what it is.  Finally, I am done with the heart nurse, take a deep breath, and tell Celia, I am ready! We finish the rest of my session.  Minos takes me home.  I am feeling great.  I am shocked that I ended up having all this energy.  The chemo instantly took away all my muscle aches.  I couldn't believe it.  I thought to myself, this is some crazy shit!  I ended up making up 3 songs (they are not that great) but it just showed how well I was feeling.  The following day, I worked a full day.  Friday, the symptoms started to kick in.  Just some fatigue.  Saturday through Monday, my mouth felt like I had a mouthful of canker sores with no actual sores.  It's a common side effect.  Other than that, that's all I experienced.  I bounced back that week and got prepared for a huge work event for  Friday that I have spent the last four months planning.

During the following week after chemo I also had the CT scan of my arteries.  Since I get sick from CT scans, they put me on Prednisone.  That drug kept me up all night.  I had maybe 3 hours of sleep.  Amy takes me to my scan.  I get poked once again with needles.  They bring me in and I am laying on the bed of the machine.  They are giving me beta blockers to help bring my heart rate down.  My heart rate has to be in the 60's range for this test.  Right now my heart rate is jumping from 80-100.  My BP goes down to 93/50.  I am freaked out.  They are trying to calm me but the funny thing is they were annoying me more than calming me. Ha.  I knew I had to relax.  So when you keep saying we need your heart rate down, doesn't really help.  I also start thinking of my dad and the night we lost him.  My low blood pressure triggered that memory.  His nurse at that time said once we see his BP (diastolic) drop into the 40's he would slip away fast so be prepared.  I couldn't get that thought out of my head and remembered all the emotions I felt that night. I took a few deep breaths and refocused. They pushed more beta blockers and gave me saline to try to balance out the BP and heart rate.  They decided to go forward with the test even though my heart rate was in the 70's.  I hold my breath (I have to for the scan), I am nervous of throwing up again, they do the scan.  I am all finished.  I didn't throw up!!  Thank God!  They said they got some good images.  Thank goodness because I did not want to go through that again!  They put me in the recovery room and I wait 30 minutes before I am discharged.

Dr. R calls me and says that my arteries are hooked up just fine.  And says we really don't have an explanation for the low ejection fraction and we will recheck in August.  Alright, now I have this heart thing sorta figured out and now I can just focus on my treatments and getting better.  Things should get better.  I have read that the hardest part of all of this is the preliminary tests.  So far, I would agree.  I am just glad that all the tests are done and we are not waiting on anything anymore.  It's time to get better, focus on chemo, and take it a day at a time.