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Second Chemo"Particularly against books the Home Secretary is. If we can't stamp out literature in the country, we can at least stop it being brought in from outside." Thursday, September 1, 2005 Today Jack and I went to my second chemo session. Our grandson R---- spent the day with my sister M----- who had kindly taken the day off from work. We had to get going early (never easy for Jack) so I could make a first stop at the doctor's office. Jack bought a breakfast sandwich at the Subway in the lobby of the office tower. He hadn't realized that you could add veggies to an egg and bacon sandwich like you can to a sub, so he had lettuce, tomato, and green pepper on this one. I didn't eat -- blood sugar would be a problem all day because of the steroids that I took at 9:30 pm and 3:30 am as premeds for the chemo and I'd already had a hard-boiled egg and two sections of apple at home. Blood tests to be handled stat so the PA (physician's assistant) could see the results, then a visit with the PA. She was really pleased with the results of the internal exam and the blood tests were fine, so I was cleared for chemo.
We went down to the third floor where there is a skybridge to the building where the cancer treatment center is. My appointment is early in the day so we had our choice of spaces. The first time we'd been in an internal room but this time I picked a station surrounded by windows as being a bit more cheerful. This meant that Jack got to be in a recliner right next to me (better for his back than a straight chair) and do job-work on his laptop. If the place had filled up he would have had to move, but that didn't happen. This time there wasn't a problem with the blood glucose monitor (I'd brought mine just in case), and Linda the nurse called up to the doc's office to get info on possible insulin shots, which I did end up needing. This high sugar due to the steroids needs to be handled better, though, so I'll contact the diabetes nurse at my regular clinic before the next time so we can plan better. First IV: Taxol. I used our new small DVD player to watch a movie and only dozed off a bit. I watched Bright Young Things which I'd picked up used at the grocery store the other day. I'd picked it because it is Stephen Fry's debut as director (he wrote the script also) but I didn't realize it was based on Evelyn Waugh's book Vile Bodies. I haven't read it, and I didn't know that he set the book in the near future, writing in 1929 and setting the book in a fictional thirties. I guess this is how Fry justifies scoring the opening sequence with Sing, Sing, Sing, by Benny Goodman's band in 1937. Lunch for me was an egg salad sandwich. Jack took off to McDonalds for the Wifi. I played a swing CD set (birthday gift from Jerry and Suzle) and did some knitting. Second IV: carboplatin. The whole thing took less time than the first session. That first time they administer the drugs extra slowly so they can watch for bad allergic reactions. They are still careful the second time but it's possible to go faster. We were done by 3 pm.
When I called my sister M---- there wasn't an answer and I had forgotten that she was taking R---- to her company picnic, so I left a message to say that we'd be by later to pick him up. (I didn't know that she planned to bring him back to our house after the picnic, a miscommunication.) We went to the Capitol Hill apartment to work on stuff there (but I mostly reposed myself and read a book). Jack pulled the 2x4s that had framed a former dropped ceiling in the bedroom, and gave parts of the repaired front door another coat of polyurethane. I called M----- again (I'd remembered about the picnic) and she was already home! She'd gotten the message. But when I heard that she'd been planning on bringing R---- to our house later I suggested that she go back to the picnic since it wasn't too far away. We went home and I took it easy. Blood sugar was still high! I should have done a lower carb dinner (just cheese instead of grilled cheese sandwitch, perhaps. Oh, well, next time!). R---- had a blast at the picnic, I think. He can't yet tell a lot about what he's been doing, but if I name off some things that might have happened there, he agrees heartily. "Was there running?" "Yes!" "Did you see the water?" (Lake Washington at Magnuson Park) "Yes!" |
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