So today was treatment #1.
I made Joel do a selfie in -19 degree weather… and for once, I look better than he does!
Although cancer is no laughing matter, you are going to find me smiling as long as I can.
The sad face days will come (don’t I know it), but I'm not actively looking for them.
This being my first chemo... and happening so quickly... I don't have my portacath installed. My port will be used in place of an IV line, making access easier, and preserving my veins as this chemo is aggressive. You know, they call it the red devil, and for the next 8 weeks I will have a total of 4 doses before transitioning to another drug. It is, as it suggests, bright red. There is something movie-like watching the chemo nurses double-gown, double-glove and double-check I am who they think I am. Part of me is like, "hold on, how bad is this stuff?!", and the other part, "who is imitating a person and taking this voluntarily?!"
The first infusion is slow and highly controlled to ensure I can handle the drugs. The drugs before the drugs, and the fluids after the drugs. Like all things cancer, patience is a virtue, and I was busy the day that was given out. The one thing I have to share is how amazing the team of folks are here at Grand River Cancer Centre. From the moment you walk through the door you feel a strange sense of calm, and love. And the nurses are next level... I haven't quite found the words for them yet, because amazing doesn't seem good enough.
Leaving was more overwhelming than arriving. A spreadsheet of drugs and rattling little containers. A cooler bag with a drug- one that needs to be injected into me 24 hours after my chemo is done. It's a bright yellow bag, screams emergency, but what I actually found out is it's like gold. Liquid gold. This injection is $1,500 a shot and will stimulate my white blood cells. I am warned that it can cause bone pain. Simply put, lets give me next level poison, then inject me to spark my body to fight the poison. Sounds like fun!
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