Chemo - Day 2 (Or how I spent 13 hours at the infusion center)

It was all Nancy's fault.

We arrived at 9 am for her scheduled IP treatment (you remember IP or inter-peritoneal - when they inject the chemo directly into her abdomen through the port in her belly) and nurse Liz (from NY) started her on her hydration right away. Hydration is one of the key ingredients in minimizing side effects we have learned.

That was when the pain started. Unbelievable gas pains as it turned out. It was so bad that they delayed the chemo treatment until they could take a scan, which had to wait because she ate a bagel at 10:30. So, she drank the stuff in preparation for the scan at 2:30, finally had the scan at about 4:30 after having a second IV put in for the contrast, talked to another doctor just before 6 who confirmed the results. We then started the treatment right around 6 pm. When all was said and done it was almost 10 by the time we got in the car to head home. To combat a reoccurrence, they started her on a regimen to keep her regular and minimize the gas.

Thank God for the kids is all I can say. Atley came over after work to take over from Danika who had to be at work at 5. They took care of the dogs and kept the house in one piece. And Babette left pastas and salads which was scarfed down rather appreciatively at 11....

So that's the short of it. Throughout the day we talked to our nurse quite a bit about how to minimize side effects, why move to California from the east coast, career, why Dr. Leuchter never comes over to see patients in the infusion center, the usual infusion center chatter we are finding.

It's amazing how nice everyone is over there. And man do they know their shit! Even the rude doctor from Tuesday was nice yesterday. And Dr. Leuchter came by to see Nanc as promised and to see one of his other patients as well. All the nurses were quite impressed that he came over and I know it made Nanc feel so much better after the morning she had. He has a real calming effect on her. She has really put herself into his hands and is not looking back. The decision to stay at Cedars was reaffirmed yesterday by both of us, numerous times throughout the day.

The fears of having the needle put into her tummy were put to rest after the needle went in without incident. Nanc was able to tolerate the fluids well and only looked about 3 months pregnant at the end of the day. They put a total of nearly 2 liters directly into her abdomen for the treatment. Plus 2 more through the IV. So she will be taking on a total of nearly 4 liters and if her output doesn't at least reach 3, they give her something to help that along. I thought we were going to have to pull over at one point on the way home so she could pee in the bottle but we made it to the pharmacy without incident.

We also got the chance to chat with a woman who is half way through the same treatment for quite a while yesterday. Her name is Virginia or Gini, and she works at MOCA as a restorer and happens to live quite close to us. She was very sweet and I know it made Nanc more confident. She has had no nausea to speak of throughout so far and gave Nanc some good tips on fatigue, hydration and wigs. She had an amazing wig that everyone thought was real.

I know there's more on the day but I am running out of time. I will bring you updates as things come up. For now, she is handling the whole thing very well. Tuesday was more emotional, yesterday she got through her fear for the IP treatment, tolerated it very well and will be a full fledged combat veteran after next Tuesday. I'm thinking some sort of medal or at least a barbecue on the 4th.

I started setting up a blog yesterday but haven't gotten any text into it as of yet. I should have it done by Sunday and will forward the link to you all when it's ready.

Oh, and Danika cut her hair yesterday in a show of strength for her mom. Atley is talking about it but Nanc loves his curls. Attached is a pic. God I love our kids...