Chemo 12/21/09....Session 2 Complete!

Chemo number 2 - check!

It went as well as can be expected, yesterday. My mom picked me up for my 9:00 session. Steve joined me after the kids were picked up by our friends (off to Seaworld they went - thanks, Charleen and Burt!). My nurse, Anthony, was awesome. He is from New York, and we just generally liked the guy. (I think the thing I liked most is that he told me I could go to the movie theater, wearing a mask of course.)

My white blood count was 3.9 - the norm is 4-11. However, they use a formula to assess if I am healthy enough for chemo, which obviously I was. I am still trying to figure all of these counts out. Those I have met in my support group understand them all. Maybe by my last session, I will have it down. What I did ask is whether or not the hustle and bustle of my every day life could affect my white blood count. Anthony answered that it would be more apt to directly affect my red blood count. However, he inferred that I need my rest in order to help fight any ailments that may be looming.

Unlike the last chemo session, the infusion of all three drugs in my chemo "nectar" took about 3:30. I was proud that I actually got some work done on the Allen Foundation grant during my stint. It was just a few paragraphs - such is my pace these days, but working was a nice distraction. (Not quite sure whose wireless service that I was using, but it was one of 10 on the list given by my computer that had no security linked with it!) Once I was "discharged" (I am technically an inpatient during chemo), since it was lunch time, Steve and I decided to head to D.Z. Akins for some soup. I could not resist getting their Chicken Noodle Soup, otherwise titled "Jewish Penicillin".

By the time we got home, I was ready for a nap...and some more nausea meds. My tastebuds started to dwindle again and my sense of smell was hightened, which adds to nausea at times. Steve and I took Cooper for a short walk in the late afternoon. The fresh air felt wonderful and the slow movement equally so. My friends, Lisa and Amy, brought food to our house for dinner last night. Both dishes were equally yummy. (I had to sample both!)

The long and the short of it is, I am fighting the nausea best that I can. I still need all three drugs as prescribed, same as last go around. I am exhausted, but with Christmas just around the corner, I will manage. The look in my kids faces on Christmas morning is way more important than anything else than how I feel this week.

And on another positive note, as previously mentioned, we had several friends over helping us move into our new master bedroom this weekend. Tom paved the way, of course, but also included were my mom and dad, Steve's colleauges, Julie, Casey, Joan and Paul (who stopped by some wonderful beef stew), my colleagues, Lisa and Gyl (Lisa, thank you for the trip to the Goodwill and the drinks for us all to share!) and our friends Lisa, Kyle and Doug.

Doug had watched our kids for us as I was preparing for my first chemo. This weekend he told me a story that catches the essence of my fight. He said that Harrison leaned in real close and real serious to him and said to Doug, "My dad told you that my mom is a breast cancer survivor, right?" A child's insight that has never been more true.