Round One, Done!
First round of chemo is done. It’s been a whole week since my first infusion, and I’ll admit that I was pretty anxious going in. I was warned about all of the side effects. The nausea, the fatigue, aches and pains, etc. I was happy to have my own little cubicle with a curtain rather than the big open infusion room. Leah had her own chair with me and (as she always has) never left my side the entire time. We were there at 8:00am and the whole appointment lasted 5-6 hours.
The first thing for my treatment is to draw a blood sample and send it straight to the lab. They immediately begin checking numbers of red blood cells, platelets, and all kinds of other acronyms of things to make sure I’m at the correct levels. If not, we have to delay treatment because it’s too risky. That would be the worst news. It takes about a half hour to get those results and those are the most nerve-racking. It’s easy to let it get you worrying about it and wondering if you’ll have to reschedule, if the bad results mean you’re really sick at this moment and need to go straight to the hospital, among other intrusive thoughts. Thankfully everything was giving a green light for this first round.
The environment was actually pretty comfy. They have heated little blankets, pillows, snack area, and coffee bar. The curtain can be pulled closed for my little room but there’s still plenty of audio from the surrounding rooms. One of the other patients across from me was heavily coughing and spitting up for at least an hour. It was rather disgusting, but at the same time, I had to take a moment and remind myself that the rest of my body is still healthy and to be grateful for that. It’s strange to think that even with “incurable, terminal, stage 4 colon cancer”… things could somehow still be worse.
The chemotherapy itself was just like what I had become accustomed to at the hospital. My port on my chest is nothing more than a semi-permanent IV access. The most interesting part might be the nurse’s protocol before administering the drugs. Two different nurses both have to read and recite the text of the drug information, volumes, patient info, etc. all aloud, and confirm that what they read and said with each other matches before even breaking the seal. It made me think of the old Cold War movies and stories of the two people way underground in a nuclear missile silo who each have to turn their key and push the button at the same time in order to launch the missiles…With all of the radioactive logos and warnings on the packages that the nurses had to open, it was a reference that felt a little on-the-nose.
After getting hooked up it was a breeze. Just four different bags of stuff hanging above a machine that beeps angrily if you don’t give it enough attention. We got plenty used to those in the hospital. It’s even the same damn beeping sound! My nurse did a great job of keeping the machine quiet, though. Oh, and Leah did too. Did I mention that somehow, among keeping me alive, constantly fed, medicated on time, driven everywhere, finding time for pickleball, staying on top of her work days, staying on top of my workdays, that she’s also managed to figure out how to work the IV machines at the appointments?
Yeah… I’ve got cancer… but I’m still the luckiest guy in the world.