1st Chemo Treatment

As many of you know from reading the blog, my first official chemo treatment was yesterday, Tuesday May 12th. We went in not really knowing what to expect, but knowing that we would be there for a while. I came armed with my blanket from the LoveKnots at Tempe 1st, my kindle that the family pitched in on for my Mother's Day present, my comfy sweats my sisters got me at Disneyland, and my mom and Rob.

When it was my turn they took me back into the area where they do all the chemo treatment and we met the nurses Jackie and Charlotte, both very nice and very reassuring that no question was a stupid question. We sat down in an open reclining chair, alongside eight other people. It took them a while to get things going since this was my first time. The first thing they did was get my port hooked up to a needle, which really is much nicer then getting pricked in the arm, let me tell you. Once that was done they could draw the necessary blood work and then hook me up to saline water before the chemo drugs.

They spent some time educating us on chemo and the particular drugs I would be taking. With the ABVD drugs there is a 99% chance of hair loss, so I am going to be running a vote for which head wraps you think I should buy. That will come later, when I can figure out how to set it up. After they gave us a bunch of information they had to make sure I wasn't allergic to the bleomycin, so I got a small trial dose of this first. Once they determined I was still breathing they got started on adminstering the various other drugs.

I finally convinced my mom and Rob to go and get lunch at this point, since I was finally hooked up, no more talking, and just sitting they decided they could dash to Applebee's an eat. I sat in my chair and read the book I had downloade, while making friends with some of the people around me.

Because it was the first chemo, they administered everything very slowly to watch my body's reaction. This made for a long first day. We showed up at 11am, and finally left at 5:00 pm. They tell me next time will only take 3 hours. I will be going back every other week on Tuesday's for 7 more times. So far I am blessed to not have too many side effects. I was a bit tired last night, but that was partially because of the long day. So far I have not felt horrible, but we will see how that goes. We promise to keep you posted.

Many of you have asked how you can help us out. North Scottsdale will be helping us with meals on Tuesday and Wednesday, on treatment weeks. If you want to help Nancy Gerberding is heading this up. Rob is working with 1st Tempe to offer meals as well. Many of you who don't cook have been asking where we like to get food To Go. We are lucky that we have almost any restaraunt around us: Applebee's, Outback, Chili's, Macayo's, etc.

Most importantly you can continue to send us your love, prayers and hugs. Without all of your support this journey woul be much more difficult Thank you.