Keeeeeee - moe

February 14, 2013 2pm

Well kids, its chemo day.  Been an interesting one so far, however uneventful.  I think the biggest thing that made me go, "huh" is the fact that the infusion nurse has to wear this protective cover and gloves and stuff when she simply hangs the bag from the pole and connects it to the line so that she doesn't inadvertently get some of the chemo drug on her should the bag get dropped or whatever...but we'll go ahead and mainline that straight into my wife's heart.  Literally.

Does anyone else see the irony in this?

So, we got here this morning about 8, stopped in to get the Dove bars filled which REALLY hurt this time, had some blood drawn, came over to the infusion center and met our WONDERFUL infusion nurse named Gwen.  There are 4 pre-meds that Ade got; a steroid (her biceps are growing already) an anti-nausea drug, Benadryl which was hilARIOUS because she got all loopy and drowsy which made her start saying some fuuuuuuny stuff.  It was rather amusing.

She took all of that Benadryl and the steroid and stuff because there is a fairly significant risk of allergic reaction, oddly enough to the binder in the first chemo drug (Taxatere) and not the actual drug itself.  Something they mix the drug with is what actually causes the allergic reaction.  She, thankfully did not respond negatively at all.  No reaction whatsoever, so praise the LORD for that! They flush her port for a little while and then the 2nd drug just started and we should be out of here around 2-2:30 this afternoon.

The plan is to head home, grab a redbox on the way, have a nice dinner and just sit.  Apparently she could start feeling the effects of it as soon as this evening beginning with nausea, tiredness and a general "blah" feeling.  There is also the chance that she will be super excitable because she will take another dose of the steroid this evening just to be sure that the Taxatere doesn't cause any reactions, and that steroid can keep you awake and cause some feelings of euphoria.  Weird this stuff, I tell you.

Tomorrow we'll take the day off and perhaps try to get in to the acupuncturist which is supposed to help quite a bit with nausea, our plan is to get a walk in, and just relax.  We've heard over and over again that we need to listen to her body - if she is up for it, we'll walk but if her body is whining a little then we'll hit up our Netflix subscription pretty hard in the next few days.  We are told that Saturday is when it may start getting a little rough in terms of the lethargy, "blah" feeling, tiredness, lack of appetite, etc.  

So...we shall see.  Several of you fine people have offered to help, bring things over, etc. I'm actually not being a lame-o, I just really don't know what we need.  We have leftovers ready for dinner tonight, we have stuff to eat tomorrow...I really dont know.  Our friend Brenna set the meals site back up to give folks a few days/week to bring meals over for a little while during the first few rounds of chemo, so if you are interesting in helping that way, we would certainly appreciate that!  If you would like to bring a meal and didnt get an invite, please get in touch with me and I'll connect you with Brenna.  Otherwise, I really just appreciate praying.  Send her a text, or an email or something (don't be offended if she doesn't respond immediately) and just let her know you love her. That's helpful.

Thanks so much you lovely people, we really appreciate it.  I'll keep you up-to-date on how she is doing the next few days - apparently it could go a variety of ways and there is just no telling what that's going to look like for our friend.

Much love,

Jeremy