First Chemo Down

Well, I had my first chemo last Friday. It took a bit longer than the 3-4 hours I was told. We ran into problems with my medi-port.

For those who don’t know, I have a small appliance under the skin just beneath my left collarbone. It is a Medi-Port. It allows my medical team to start an IV with out having to stick my veins. The doctors want to use this mediport for several reasons.

First, it allows less of a chance for the chemo medicines to spill out on my skin, which is a good thing because it is very toxic. From what I understand if allowed to sit on my skin for any time at all, it would start to eat away my skin. That’s the magic of this chemical combination, it attacks living tissue, the fast growing kind most (which is what cancer is). It also attacks things like hair folicles, they grow constantly and are good targets for takeover. When the hair falls out the follicles go dormant. After the chemo is finished, the follicles wake up and begin growing hair again. Cancer cells grow very fast, and they will react to the chemo and die. This part of my adventure is a balancing act, kinda like a walk across a ravine on a fallen tree. Walk steady and straight, and you get across fine. Pay no attention or go too fast and you stand a bigger chance of falling off.

Second, the appliance that sits under my skin is less likely to get an infection. It’s part of my body in a way and takes care of that problem.

Next it has a longish tube that follows my collarbone over to a rather large vein on my right side, which speeds the chemo to the bloodstream and allows it to work without causing me problems.

When the port is placed and the tube is run, the skin is sutured closed over it. When a patient needs chemo, the tech starts it in the port, but they have to verify placement of the port by first washing it with saline, then attempting to do a draw, which means pull blood out of it. Mine would flush OK,, but they couldn’t get a back flush. Finally after trying several meds to clear the line (none of which worked) we gave up and put the iv into my arm.

The actual receiving of chemo medicines isn’t a big deal. You just get hooked up to IV bags and they drip, drip, drip away. Then the nurse/technician comes over and adds to the IV with two large syringes that push a very strong drug slowly into my veins. Finally another drip, drip, drip bag and I’m done. Came home and had a wonderful day.

Saturday was a good day as well. The prescriptions for anti-nausea drugs worked as it was supposed to and I had almost no nausea at all. Sunday followed suit, with still very little nausea. Today (Monday 6/1/2009) was a bit different. I went back to work, and because I was concentrating on work I was late with my anti-nausea drugs. The nausea hit at lunch when someone warmed a lunch in the microwave and to me it smelled like they were heating old gym shoes….really nasty. I got my anti-nausea drugs out and took them and things got better. By the time I got back to my desk I was sleepy, but no longer nauseous. Hip Hip Horay!

Tomorrow I have an appointment at 9 a.m. to get my medi-port checked. IF it is plugged, they will remove this one and place another. Thankfully it is day surgery and I will be able to go home afterwards. Unfortunately it will use up another full day of vacation, and that’s no fun. I have 96 hours right now, and every hour away counts down, so I’m hoping this will be a 4 hour ordeal rather than the full 8.

I’ve decided that if this is all that Chemo is going to do to me, I’m truly blessed. If not, I can do anything through Christ who strengthens me….

Kate