Day 22

Today has gone as well as expected.

Last night I was up all night peeing like a race horse. All that water... well, it has to go somewhere. So I've got a little routine down, as I have to flush the toilet twice for five days after receiving chemo. I go, flush, wash my hands, then flush again. The toilet tank refills in the time it takes for me to wash my hands. I feel that's a good routine.

This morning I woke up and got ready for work. I was in at my normal time of 430. I ate my breakfast cereal and half a peanut bar and took my first dose of the all day anti-nausea medication. Hee hee, the side effects included dizziness. So I went home at 7a. I came home ate, then took about an hour and a half nap. When I woke up I felt so much better. I had a snack and then went back to work. At work I had a snack. I stayed at work until 2p to get stuff taken care of. But that whole last hour I was at work, I was thinking of food. Yep, another size effect - increased appetite. Heck, I'll take it. Got home at 2:10 and ate some yummy left overs before heading out to my Neulasta injection.

Before I left, I got a call from OHSU. My port surgery is scheduled for 2/15. I don't know a time yet, but I'll receive a call the day before with the time. So my port will be going in the day before my next chemo treatment. Hooray... I think.

My neulasta injection appointment was at 3p. I got there and it was so nice not having to drive to downtown Portland because I didn't want to drive back in rush hour traffic. NOT GOOD. I got there, and they couldn't find my order. But somehow, someway, they found it and I got my injection. I didn't realize that I could get it in my arm or my stomach. I opted for stomach because the nurse said that it was less painful there. It didn't hurt. Then I had to stay for 5 minutes because they wanted to monitor me for any allergic reaction. None this time. While I was there, the office manager and I started talking. She showed me the infusion room. It was nice and cheerful, but I don't want to move my chemo closer to home. I want to keep my doctor.

When I got home I made some measurements of how much I was drinking. Dr. L wants me to drink 2-3 liters a day. That's 96-100 ounces. Today so far I have drank 110 ounces and it's only 4:25! I think I will surpass that. But it's important for me to drink a lot of water... one to keep me hydrated and two it will get the chemo out of my body and the liver doesn't have to work so hard to process it out of my system.

So... in closing... it has been a decent day. I am waiting for the real crappy days to come. I hear they are just around the corner... like day 3-8 or so. That would mean Sunday. Sunday is Brad's first day to work and my first day of being alone with two girls and doing chemo at the same time. We'll see how much stuff gets done. I am also expecting on Sunday for my bones to hurt. That's when the neulasta kicks in and when my bones will start to ache (bone marrow starts reproducing and making white and red blood cells).