I completed cycle 5 of BV last night at Siteman. Honestly, I went into with my head kinda low. No stress, nothing to complain about, just exhausted from the day and wanting to be in my own bed, not one at Barnes. I left work actually happy to be walking out the door slightly early - it is very rare for me, but was one of those days! There was a volcano of noodles during lunch, a 30 minute wagon-ride tantrum, a display of why a tire swing should only hold 3 children, not 4, and I some how ended up with lasagna in my shoe. After it took twice as long than normal to get them to sleep I went straight to Google to confirm the craziness- yup, it's a full moon.
I entered Siteman to a bit of commotion, causing me to wait a bit for my labs. Krissy was running behind, my phone was dieing, and I didn't bring anything to entertain myself. So I sat just rubbing my uncomfortable hands, slowly slipping into complaining mode. When the medical emergency was transported from the floor of the laboratory to a more appropriate location (reminding me that my day could always be worse), I headed back to have my blood drawn. The tech and I chatted about the chaos of Siteman that day, then her ending with, "Do you know if it's a full moon?"
Krissy arrived and the waiting really begun. Although I really haven't seen her in forever (like a good week) so there was lots to talk about and keep us entertained. My visit with the doctor's resident and nurse coordinator went wonderfully. No new news (oh! except my white counts are back from last time's dangerous drop!), but a new prescription for some Vicodin to help with the neuropathy pain. She confirmed what everyone has been questioning... why do I stay on this drug if I'm in remission?! BV is as old as a preschooler - there is still a lot to learn. From their research, partial or full remission is expected from the first 4-8 cycles. But from there it's up in the air. Is that enough for someone to be cured? Or is it just keeping the tumors from growing back? There is just not enough research yet. They were so confident about my first chemo options back in 2004 because those drugs are older than I am. There has been a lot more time for research to be developed. I hope as time passes and when they discover that BV is a miracle cure for Hodgkin Lymphoma the put my face on the poster. Hehe :)
Treatment went smoothly as well as the hangover! The nurses have learned to dilute my chemo with some saline so it no longer hurts. I was wrapped snug in heated blankets while Krissy and I watched The Big Bang Theory. My chemo nurse was the sweetest and just laughed at all of my "complaining". As well as the chemo techs - it's just somehow nonstop laughing when we're all together.
I left Siteman feeling almost better than when I arrived! I was dreading being poked, feeling sick, and all of the consultations (like that one time when I was on the chemo pill and I was told that even though it was helping my tumors shrink, it could also cause cancer. Awesome). I'm really sure that both my lab tech and chemo nurse getting veins on their first tries helped with that - so much less pain! I fell asleep rather early, but woke up this am ready to go! I took a half day this morning to sleep off the grogginess, but have slowly realized I didn't really need it this time! Sweet! But don't worry, I've been a good girl and still stayed in bed and rested :)
Hooray for no chemo hangover!!
No comments:
Post a Comment