It 's been another frustrating overnight stay at the hospital, though it went a little better than the last time.
It started with the pre-chemo doctor visit where I got some encouraging news for a change. My tumor marker [CA125] was down to 8 from the 48 where it was at 3 months ago. 8 is the range it was in for the entire time after I finished treatment five years ago until last April when it had crept up to 17. And that number [the 8] was taken just before my last treatment so it was only after 2 full and 1 more aborted chemo treatments and prior to beginning radiation on the head tumor. That really boosted my mood. We'll keep going for the 6th round and then do another CT scan to see where things are at. I think he's planning to leave the head treament to the radiation docs and an MRI is scheduled for April 3rd for that. The MRI will give a lot more detail to help plan the cyberknife treatment, including when to do it.
I told the doctor about how frustrating the chemo treatment at the hospital was last time. He was sympathic about the delays, but I had the impression he hears that from everyone. I asked if they could access my port while I was there to save a couple hours anyway and he said they could do that. He also said he would make sure I got Zofran again, every 8 hours while I'm in the hospital. I also asked about the fact that they did not do a saline drip for hydration while giving the chemo, which was fine, just that they hadn't told me so I didn't start out drinking enough. It was such a nice day yesterday, I even asked if he could arrange for a room with a view of Mt. Rainier.
So I got checked into the hospital with my port already accessed, eager to get things started. When I go up to th 11th floor, the nurse said that Drescher had asked them to put me in a room on the south side of the building with a Mt. Rainier view. Excellent! He had also asked them to run simultaneous IV fluids. But I still had to sit around and wait ... and wait ... and wait to start chemo. The nurse came by after a couple hours and said they would be starting a second IV line for a saline drip for hydration. I didn't think that meant an IV in my hand, but that's what they meant. So when the IV lady arrived and I realized their intent I told her that at the Cancer Institute they ran the hydration line through the same infusion machine into my port. She said she wasn't sure the two should be mixed, but she'd find out. After a while the RN can back to ask if the IV had been put in so I again explained to her how it was done at the Cancer Institute. She said she would check, and sure enough, came back a 1/2 hour later saying they could do that. Then it was waiting for drugs. We finally got started at 1:00 this time! So an hour later than last time, probably due to my bitching about them wanting to put in an unnessesary 2nd IV line.
At least this time they had the drugs lined up and ready to go so that once we got started there were no real delays. So we did make up one hour and the last 12 hour drip went in at 11:30. So I should be out of here by noonish again. Maybe next time they can recall all the things we did this time and get through it even more quickly. That would be nice.
I'm definitely feeling the wear and tear of 3 months of treatment though. I am a little more on the nauseous side and much more tired than I usually am on Day 2 of a cycle. I hope that doesn't mean I'll have a particularly bad round this time. But I'm pretty sure I'll be dragging through March with a low energy level.
It started with the pre-chemo doctor visit where I got some encouraging news for a change. My tumor marker [CA125] was down to 8 from the 48 where it was at 3 months ago. 8 is the range it was in for the entire time after I finished treatment five years ago until last April when it had crept up to 17. And that number [the 8] was taken just before my last treatment so it was only after 2 full and 1 more aborted chemo treatments and prior to beginning radiation on the head tumor. That really boosted my mood. We'll keep going for the 6th round and then do another CT scan to see where things are at. I think he's planning to leave the head treament to the radiation docs and an MRI is scheduled for April 3rd for that. The MRI will give a lot more detail to help plan the cyberknife treatment, including when to do it.
I told the doctor about how frustrating the chemo treatment at the hospital was last time. He was sympathic about the delays, but I had the impression he hears that from everyone. I asked if they could access my port while I was there to save a couple hours anyway and he said they could do that. He also said he would make sure I got Zofran again, every 8 hours while I'm in the hospital. I also asked about the fact that they did not do a saline drip for hydration while giving the chemo, which was fine, just that they hadn't told me so I didn't start out drinking enough. It was such a nice day yesterday, I even asked if he could arrange for a room with a view of Mt. Rainier.
So I got checked into the hospital with my port already accessed, eager to get things started. When I go up to th 11th floor, the nurse said that Drescher had asked them to put me in a room on the south side of the building with a Mt. Rainier view. Excellent! He had also asked them to run simultaneous IV fluids. But I still had to sit around and wait ... and wait ... and wait to start chemo. The nurse came by after a couple hours and said they would be starting a second IV line for a saline drip for hydration. I didn't think that meant an IV in my hand, but that's what they meant. So when the IV lady arrived and I realized their intent I told her that at the Cancer Institute they ran the hydration line through the same infusion machine into my port. She said she wasn't sure the two should be mixed, but she'd find out. After a while the RN can back to ask if the IV had been put in so I again explained to her how it was done at the Cancer Institute. She said she would check, and sure enough, came back a 1/2 hour later saying they could do that. Then it was waiting for drugs. We finally got started at 1:00 this time! So an hour later than last time, probably due to my bitching about them wanting to put in an unnessesary 2nd IV line.
At least this time they had the drugs lined up and ready to go so that once we got started there were no real delays. So we did make up one hour and the last 12 hour drip went in at 11:30. So I should be out of here by noonish again. Maybe next time they can recall all the things we did this time and get through it even more quickly. That would be nice.
I'm definitely feeling the wear and tear of 3 months of treatment though. I am a little more on the nauseous side and much more tired than I usually am on Day 2 of a cycle. I hope that doesn't mean I'll have a particularly bad round this time. But I'm pretty sure I'll be dragging through March with a low energy level.
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