Today was my my first chemo treatment, and it went really well. I only had the chemo infusion, not the one that's for the prevention of brittle and broken bones and is supposed to take about an hour and a half. There wasn't anything in the file in the infusion room indicating to administer it today and Dr. Hart had my main file with her at her other office. I'll probably get that one on Friday now with my regular chemo.

Tida forgot her camera today, so we had to resort to the camera on my phone for her "documentary" pictures. Please forgive the subject matter of the pictures, I only have so much to work with!

The first one is just a shot of the "room" I was in. The infusion room consists of 26 (I think) areas separated by curtains that have a comfortable chair for the patient, another side chair for a visitor, and a stool for the nurse administering the treatment. I went in with four other 8:00 patients, got to select the room I wanted, and waited for the nurse. Since this was my first visit, we went over the procedure, had to sign some more consent forms, then started in.





I didn't explain the port-a-cath yesterday, but the top part of the port-a-cath just under the skin is titanium, is about a half inch in diameter and has a mesh-like surface. Beyond that is a catheter that goes through the vein towards the heart. For the treatment the nurse feels for the surface of the port-a-cath, then inserts a special needle attached to the IV. When it's removed, the mesh area seals up. There was very minimal pain, even with just having the device implanted yesterday and having the surgical wound still healing. The nurse said there was no redness around the incision and it looked like it was healing well. This is going to be much better than having to get IV's for every treatment, especially if I have to go through 3 or 4 cycles of treatments. The other positive is the port-a-cath can be used for most of the lab work I'll need, and I'll need a lot of lab work, so hopefully not much more drawing blood from the arms for awhile. This picture shows the special needle inserted and attached to the IV.




This next shot is of the nurse flushing the line, making sure everything is working right, Then she injected pre-meds, drugs to help prevent nausea, and some other fluids.





This picture is the infusion of the hard stuff, the velcade and decadron.




The whole therapy process took about 40 minutes, which is what they had estimated. It took about 15-20 minutes for the pre-meds and the first round of fluids; 5 seconds, yes seconds, for the chemo push; then another 10-15 minutes for the second dose of fluids.

The oral chemo drug, Revlimid, was delivered mid afternoon, and I'll take it tonight with another one that right now I don't even remember what it's for. I went my whole life without taking anything stronger than Excedrin, and now I'm taking so many drugs I don't know what it's all for. Tida's marked the calendar so we know when I'm supposed to take what! Since it was so late getting the Revlimid, I didn't go into work today, but I probably feel better today than I have for a few days. Steroids at work I'm sure. I'm still being realistic. Having talked to cancer patients and survivors, I know it's common to feel good the day of therapy, it's the next day or so that kicks you in the backside. Then there's always the cumulative effect of the drugs: the more treatments the more side effects.

Still, I'm positive about getting these cycles of chemo finished, staying strong, and preparing for the next "event".