End of the beginning or vice versa
No, nothing morbid. Today I had the last IV infusion of chemo for my current pre-transplant treatment. The folks at Wake Forest want my blood to be clean of other chemo so they can work their magic on it with no fear of cross-contamination. So that means that, over the next 24 days, I am injected with nothing, swallowing nothing and all that stuff I have been injected with gets peed down the drain (more expensive than going on the booze at the Trump Hotel). I wonder if I can have a couple of legit beers? It is going to be interesting in the extreme to see how healthy I now am. Am I a bit shaky because of the melanoma or because of the treatment? Also my inclination to crawl into bed at 9 pm.
I must admit I will miss the lovely people at Mercy Hospital, especially my Commonwealth Cousin. Perhaps I'll drop in for a shot of saline for old times' sake.
Monday is evaluation day to see if I am tough enough to take the treatment. Feel free to break into the trunk of my car and steal the large orange bottle in there - it will contain a whole day's urine samples. Prost!
First week of December I get to go over to Wake Forest again to be pumped full of something to stimulate my stem cells and to have them sucked out of me. They are aiming at either 10,000,000 stem cells or 10,000,000 pre kg of body weight, depending on which of the highly informative documents they have given me I read. Not really much I can do about the count as I tend to fall asleep round about the 100 mark. I am assured that most people can manage way more than the 2,000,000 minimum that is required but, if I miss, they do it again.
Life gets serious on Boxing Day (Americans can google it) when they give me my stemcells back again to mingle with the more powerful chemo I've been given in the lead up to Christmas - I hope I giuzzle too much turkey this year as not really fancying it last year was one of my first signs that I wasn't 100%. We always pay the extra $$$ for a Harris Teeter fresh turkey as they are a zillion times better than the frozen Butterballs (adv - HT, you can deliver our free turkey to the address you have on file).
Then follows a 2 month recovery period during which I have to avoid crowds and kids and my sick leave from school will expire - I've asked Human Resources about short term disability but it haven't heard back yet.
It all sounds like a bit of an adventure - I am pretty sure I am looking forward to it more than Susan as I get to watch a load of my crappy old movies and do endless jigsaws and KenKens until I fall asleep. I must also finally admit that chemo brain has completely killed my ability to do Black Belt KenKens - it's getting on for a month since I have managed to finish one.
I must admit I will miss the lovely people at Mercy Hospital, especially my Commonwealth Cousin. Perhaps I'll drop in for a shot of saline for old times' sake.
Monday is evaluation day to see if I am tough enough to take the treatment. Feel free to break into the trunk of my car and steal the large orange bottle in there - it will contain a whole day's urine samples. Prost!
First week of December I get to go over to Wake Forest again to be pumped full of something to stimulate my stem cells and to have them sucked out of me. They are aiming at either 10,000,000 stem cells or 10,000,000 pre kg of body weight, depending on which of the highly informative documents they have given me I read. Not really much I can do about the count as I tend to fall asleep round about the 100 mark. I am assured that most people can manage way more than the 2,000,000 minimum that is required but, if I miss, they do it again.
Life gets serious on Boxing Day (Americans can google it) when they give me my stemcells back again to mingle with the more powerful chemo I've been given in the lead up to Christmas - I hope I giuzzle too much turkey this year as not really fancying it last year was one of my first signs that I wasn't 100%. We always pay the extra $$$ for a Harris Teeter fresh turkey as they are a zillion times better than the frozen Butterballs (adv - HT, you can deliver our free turkey to the address you have on file).
Then follows a 2 month recovery period during which I have to avoid crowds and kids and my sick leave from school will expire - I've asked Human Resources about short term disability but it haven't heard back yet.
It all sounds like a bit of an adventure - I am pretty sure I am looking forward to it more than Susan as I get to watch a load of my crappy old movies and do endless jigsaws and KenKens until I fall asleep. I must also finally admit that chemo brain has completely killed my ability to do Black Belt KenKens - it's getting on for a month since I have managed to finish one.
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