Chemo infusion #1

8:10 am (Rise and shine)!

Woke up feeling nervous but excited to start kicking Freds ass! Jamie dropped the kids off at school and then we left shortly after that. Guys… I honestly couldn’t have been more prepared. It looked like we were leaving for Hawaii hahah!! SO many bags…

On the car ride up I took an Ativan and applied a huge glob of lidocaine cream on my port site and covered it with a tegaderm (this makes port access pain free)!! And the Ativan was to bring my pulse down from 200 haha!!

9:30 am (Lab draw)

We arrived at Wentworth Douglas Hospital!! I could tell the Ativan had kicked in because I felt calm and relaxed. Lab draw was first! Went to the lab and the tech accessed my port (PAIN FREE thanks to the lido)! I popped in a mint to help with the nasty saline rush you taste in your mouth! But I barely tasted it with the mint!! The perks of doing this the second time and knowing all the tips and tricks!

11:30 am (Meet with Nurse Practitioner)

After blood draw we then went upstairs to the infusion waiting room. Things are slow during this process as they need to get blood work results before seeing me. Thanks to my Ipad and 100 activities I packed we stayed busy lol! They finally called me in and I saw Rachel, one of the Nurse Practitioners. She was super super nice!! She went over my blook work results.. white blood cells are super high (I guess from the steroids) but this is a great sign as they will most likely plummet over time.

12:00 pm (Infusion chair)!

The infusion chair!!! Again… really no nerves at all. Calm as a cucumber! I started prepping for my cold cap right away. I used a spray bottle to wet the scalp of my hair and combed it backwards. I then applied conditioner to the entire top of my head (this helps with the hair sticking to the cold cap during removal). Then the wicked hot forehead protectors get placed… AKA maxipads LOL!! Then used cotton rounds to fill in any spots where my skin was exposed. I have a widows peak (Jamie used to call it a mountain peak in highschool hahah)! Once my hair/forehead was prepped I put on the first inner cap and then placed the outer cap on top! It gets tightened with straps that Jamie helped me with! It felt SO TIGHT…. which is a good thing but ouch!! My infusion nurse popped in to say hi and introduce herself… her name was Courtney… 30 years old and cute as a button! She explained that we need to run fluids for about a half hour, then start cold capping which will take another half hour THEN chemo!! OK shoot…. I shouldn’t have put this chemo cap on my head so early lol. I did mention to the nurse the cap ALREADY felt tight and I was nervous about the pain. She gave me Advil & Tylenol which took the edge off!

1:00 pm (Cold capping)!

Cold cap time!! Jamie adjusted the straps one more time to make sure everything was super tight. I looked like a chipmunk who was ready for Outerspace LOL!! She hooked my cold cap up to the machine and there was an instant rush of coolness to my head. There was an initial shock that lasted maybe 10 minutes but then I was totally fine!! 15 minutes before chemo started I put on my hand & feet icepacks… this helps with neuropathy symptoms and gross nail stuff!! I bought another set of icepacks because we learned the hard way and it was difficult to keep the icepacks cold the entire time.. Courtney said she can put a set in their freezer next time and alternate them! Perfect!!

1:30 pm (Its chemo time)!

CHEMO TIME!! No tears and no fears! Just ready to kick Freds butt!!!! The chemo infusion lasted about 3 hours long and I took the best nap ever and listened to Andy Grammar (some great inspirational songs on his new album FYI). After the chemo infusion was complete I had another 1.5 hours of cold capping!

6:10 pm (Time to go home)!