…half step now is whole!

Posted by: trysh on: February 13, 2010

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I was pretty nervous going back on Friday for the rest of my chemo….still feeling pretty good – but wondering how my ‘numbers’ would be – will I get the chemo….or not? During the past few days, I have been eating protein, and more….and more…..all hoping to boost those numbers up.

Got to the doc’s office…and waited. This is unusual….and then we all found out why. The nurse we all knew had the day off – and her replacement was there from Portsmouth….but turns out the Pharmacy tech had put his back out the day before…..and one of the other office nurses had a sickness in the family….a perfect storm of how to put an office behind schedule. But…this is what I love about this practice – they come and TELL you why you are waiting…don’t mind it near as much when you know there’s a reason!

Finally, got back in the room….selected my ‘chair for the day’ …my home hopefully for the next few hours. I get the nice recliner, poor hubby is stuck with the padded office chair. Not the most comfy accommodations in the world – but I’m sure glad to have him right there with me. The nurse comes, takes my blood, and they do the blood counts right there in the office. She comes back with my file, says she is going to talk to the doc first….uh oh….this does not sound good. A few minutes later she’s back, and they start setting up for the chemo. Whew! I then ask her to make me copies of the blood test reports – I want to know what the numbers are…for sure….and what they mean. The nurse was happy to do so and took the time to walk me through the lingo…and what it meant. Bottom line was… the hemoglobin ‘should’ be at least 10, the hematocrit (I think – it measures oxygen in the blood) ‘should’ be 30. Mine were still sitting at 8 and 26. Hmmm….actually a little bit lower than on Tuesday. I was glad the doc okayed going ahead with the chemo – cause I was prepared to really object to NOT doing it!

All set up…and the IV was going….I got settled back into my book – and so did hubby. This part I don’t have any problems with – it goes in just like it should…no reactions at all. That part is nice.  The one drug is done via IV – the other one is “pushed” (new word of the day) – like getting a shot into the IV rather than into my body directly. This one is the one that will make my hair disappear (or not….If I am one of those rare ones who doesn’t). It is bad stuff….the packaging has FATAL on the outside, and great care has to be taken that it not leak out of a vein – hence the way it is administered. But, it is exactly this quality that makes it effective in treating cancer.  I looked it up, and was amazed to learn that it was developed from a very pretty plant, called Madagascar Periwinkle

Amazing how God provides so much in His creation, with uses we don’t discover for years and years!

Finally, I am all done….took just under 4 hours – makes for a mixed up week when you do this twice – but that’s ok, cause in the end it DID get done, and I’m still on schedule. I got an injection of a drug to boost the red blood cells – Monday I go back to get another shot to boost the white blood cells…and then I hope to see even more evidence of these treatments doing their work – the side effects so far are a very small price to pay for the benefit in getting my body well and whole again. I’m thanking God in advance, for I know that He is behind all that happens in my life….and He has a plan for it….my part is to fit my living into His plan!