A good day

Of all my chemo days, this one has been one of the best. We went in this morning and I got weighed and got the usual questions from the nurse. Then I visited with the doctor -- not my doctor, she's on vacation, I think. But this guy was pretty nice. He said the dry skin on my face was something that happens a lot, but showed a bit of concern about the rash on my chest and neck. My nurse (one of my favorites today) said it could be from the morphine I had when I was in the hospital with the kidney stones, even more than a week later.

We had to wait awhile before starting the chemo, because they had to do lab work. I was supposed to have it done yesterday, at the path lab that's just off the hospital's main lobby, but when I went, it was closed. So they drew the blood this morning and it took about an hour to get the results back. The herceptin was first and took about an hour through the IV drip. I got lunch delivered -- not bad for hospital food: baked chicken breast, corn, baked potato, chicken and rice soup, and cake for dessert. The new drug, Navelbine, was a "push," meaning the nurse uses a syringe to infuse the drug over a certain amount of time (about six minutes in this case).

It will probably bring my white blood cell count down, so I'll have to go back to my "isolation chamber" at work -- basically a storage area off the conference room. It can also cause some numbness or tingling in my hands and feet, but my doctor said this one doesn't have it as bad as the Taxotere can. So far, no nausea, and not really any fatigue. I didn't fall asleep during this one and I actually feel pretty good. I'll still take tomorrow off, because you never know, it could all hit me after a day or so.

Mom probably had it rougher than I did this morning. The store must have been busy, because she didn't get home until almost 8 a.m., and I think she was already tired from working Christmas night! The treatment room I was in this morning was one of the smaller ones with only one cushy recliner in it, so Mom was trying to get comfortable in the waiting-room type chair. She did manage a short nap or two, but it couldn't have been comfortable.

After we got home, we watched "Gangs of New York," and by the time that was over, we both needed naps. Now we're just lazing around watching the Kennedy Center Honors, and I have to say Robert Redford is still kinda hot.

P.S. Welcome to new readers. I've gotten a couple of plugs that have sent some traffic this way from here and here. Thanks for the links and kind words, guys!