Tuesday, July 15, 2008

First Day of Chemotherapy

Today went pretty good. I got there at 10:00am and had bloodwork, then went up to the fourth floor and was examined by my oncologist and he looked over my bloodwork results. He thought that my right side looked a little "puffy" and decided to not take the strips off the port yet.

Then I went into one of the three infusion rooms and I'm glad that I wore long pants and a long sleeved shirt (even on this summer day). One of the oncology nurses took me aside and inserted the needle into the mediport. It pinched a little, actually a lot! She suggested I use a mixture of Lidocaine/Prilocaine 2.5% each and I picked up the presciption on my way home. I'll use the numbing mixture in 14 days when I begin the second treatment session.

Other than that, things went very well. First I was given a double drip IV of two anti-nausea meds, (Aloxi and Decadron), which took about an hour or so. After that I was given another double IV drip of chemo drugs (Oxaliplatin and Leucovorin) for about two hours. I was able to eat a little food and felt okay after this was done.

Lastly, the gave me a short injection via IV of 5-FU (Fluorouracil) and "hooked me up" to a pump of the 5-FU which will continually inject me for 22 hours. I really don't feel too bad right now aside from a little fatigue, but will have a nap and watch the MLB All-Star Game tonight. I'm picking the American League to win!

Stay tuned as things progress...day 2 starts at 10:30am tomorrow.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I'm glad Day 1 wasn't so bad. I meant to call you last night, but got caught up in other family matters.

Hang in there for Day 2.