The Nitty Gritty

If you're reading this then you want to know more about the details of chemotherapy treatment for Hodgkin lymphoma. Whether you have a personal interest in my otherwise normal life, you find it an intriguing educational opportunity, or you're just morbidly curious, I'll do my best to remember the details. (Just to highlight my composition skills, I think I did a good job with parallel construction in that last sentence.) This is the closest thing I've done to journaling in a long, long time so it is a good exercise for me. Back to the main focus of the blog - I started taking pills today that are to fight gout. Apparently uric acid is a byproduct as the chemicals obliterate the cancer cells. (Using impressive vocabulary words just seem to make me feel better and express how excited I am to finally have this treated. I've also had a few people say that I write well so I am trying to live up to these expectations now, though it has added some pressure. Forgive me for pointing out my skills above and also later on below. I am just a humble person like that - a few compliments go straight to my head.) My port worked spectacularly. I felt a small poke and then the nurse covered the unit with a clear patch to secure the needle (free wax job later!). They took a blood sample and then we had to wait 45 minutes for the results. The confirmation came back and I was approved to proceed. They started me off with a couple of extra-strength Tylenol. I thought that was great since Tylenol has been a most helpful and trusted companion to help me manage the symptoms over the last few months. Then came the slew of injections and infusions. First, she injected the anti-nausea medicine. Next, came a bag of steroid solution that was hooked into my IV for about 15 minutes. I am not sure of the exact purpose but she said it may make my legs act up, to the point that it might be difficult to sleep. If you recall, my cocktail of cancer chemicals is the ABVD regimen, and they were administered in that order. It was so comforting to watch the nurse put on a protective gown and thick rubber gloves each time she had to administer or hook up a different IV bag. To think that she had to take those precautions for something that was going directly into my body! The A drug was reddish in color and the nurse had to sit with me and inject it over a period of 15 minutes. The next time I went pee, it was orange colored due to the red medicine mixing with yellow urine (I did warn you that there may be a few gross details). The B drug is the one that can be hard on my lungs so for my first treatment they did a small test dose over 10 minutes to see if I would react negatively. This, and the rest of the drugs, were given through IV bags. I did well with the test dose so it was another 10 minutes for the rest of the dosage. They'll take a chest x-ray next time just to make sure my lungs are clear. I was still feeling pretty good and things seemed to be moving along at a reasonable pace. Then she mentioned that the V drug would be about 15 minutes but the D drug was going to take 2 hours. It was a significantly larger dosage amount. I felt fine through it all, but the veins in my hands and arms seemed to show up darker and more noticeably. Tara agreed and we both thought it was a bit weird. Tara had showed up somewhere between A and B and sat in the recliner next to me enjoying the warm blankets. Even though we mostly just read our books it was good to have the company. Did I mention I was in close proximity to the mini-fridge stocked with juices and 7-UP? There are a few perks and we'll see about the downsides during the dark days descending upon me. (Anyone catch alliteration in there? I probably shouldn't say "dark" days since having Tara, Sophie, and Rosa here with me will be so nice but can we get a little sunshine please!) So far so good. It is off to the radiation oncologist tomorrow for more information. We'll know for certain whether it is 4 months chemo + 3 or 4 weeks of radiation or just 6 months of chemo. Typing that plus sign reminds me that I watched the nurse do some calculations to figure out the correct settings for my IV machine. We all use math everyday! I didn't think I'd use my English skills so much but I'll stop pointing them out so I don't detract from the awesomeness of my writing. I realize that I probably should use paragraphs but I haven't figured out the formatting in this program. Thanks for all of your support.