DAYS 9 & 10 - New beginnings!

Day 9 - Wednesday - was Chemo Day!  Liz picked me up at 8 a.m. and off we went to the Odette Cancer Centre at Sunnybrook!   We took the scenic route along Eglinton and got there around 9:15.  First stop, bloodwork - that was a breeze!  My veins do not usually comply but when you have experts working on you - there are no worries....  Then off to see Dr. O (Dr. Ray Osborne), the absolute greatest oncologist (gyny-oncologist) ever.....I adore this man!  Really, but he is so good that he is always running late so that took awhile - got out around 11:45.  Checked in at the chemo desk and then we went off to have some lunch at Druxie's downstairs with the pager on hand in case I got called for chemo.

Halfway through chemo they paged us so off we went, only to find out that they wanted my height and weight!  Seriously!?!?!  You have to understand I have been there 7 times since March with a previous attempt at chemo on 2 occasions which ended in a Code Blue the second time because I had an allergic reaction to the CarboPlatin (the first chemo they tried).  What exactly could have changed - did I shrink - not likely!  So I made my usual comments and she weighed me only to find out I had not gained or lost an ounce! Rocket science!  So again, the waiting game!  At about 1:30 they finally called me in to start chemo - this time it's the heavy duty one - Taxil!  This takes about 3 hours normally but they were a little wary because of my previous allergic reaction so they slowed it down a bit and with this chemo there are also pre-meds to fight off infection, steroids, and benedryl (my restless leg syndrome - oh yeah!)....so by the time we left it was 6:30 p.m. I told Liz that the cleaners would be taking out the IV and I was not far off, there were only two nurses left and they both had their purses on their shoulders as they were removing the IV..... We closed the Odette, literally last to leave!  It was a very long day.

What did we get done you ask!?!?!

Liz got 3/4's of the binding done on her wedding quilt for her nephew's wedding on Saturday.  I got some binding done and managed to cut out 4 of my Farmer's Wife blocks. The restless leg syndrome really does a number on me so I was kind of doing the dance for a while until it got bearable....but still I did make some progress!  Unfortunately I haven't done anything since!

Liz and I decided we deserved a treat so off we went to the Swiss Chocolatier at Bayview and York Mills only to find they were closed.  Baskin & Robbins is right next door so I had a double scoop of Chocolate Mint Chip on a sugar cone (they've changed their sugar cones - not as good as they used to be) It was heavenly.....then home!

I had a pretty rough evening, running to the washroom a few times but all in all it went pretty good!

Yesterday - Day 10 - was a breeze!  I played computer games all day - wasted day but still I was able to enjoy my day and then in the evening while watching TV I did a bit of sorting and organizing in the living room.  Got rid of two unsightly boxes that had been there since we moved in (January 2012).  I also managed to sort through one of the bags from the store because I made that little space available.  The day after chemo (from memory of the previous chemo two years ago) was always a good one!  Because of the steroids there is no pain so I can usually get quite a bit done.

Today is the day the side effects should begin to kick in!  Joint and muscle pain, constipation, no feelings in feet and hands and I should start to lose my hair in about two weeks.  If things go according to plan I will be "comatose" until Monday and then life should start getting back to normal except for the neuropathy (sp.) (tingling and no feelings in hands and feet) and the hair loss.

You may not hear from me for a few days so have a great weekend everyone and I'll be back soon!!!!!

Jo-Ann

P.S. All comments are welcome!  I'd love to hear what everyone is up to too!