Chemo Treatment #3

Tuesday, December 11

So you'd think since this was the 3rd treatment, it would have become routine by now.  Nope.  But that's ok, it's funny how things work out.  Donny's brother, Michael, ended up coming with us this time.  And I was grateful because he unknowingly prepared me for the phone call I received from Dr. P. later in the week.  Mrs. G picked Donny and I up at our apartment and drove us down as usual, but Michael came back with us into the treatment room while Mrs. G waited in the waiting room and filled all Donny's prescriptions for him.

We went back into the treatment room, which was on the other side of the floor.  Normally we are on the far south side of the building, but this time we went into a room on the far north side.  We noticed this was different but just shrugged it off because our appointment this week was at 3 pm instead of 2:30 pm like the other two appointments.  The nurse and murse (male nurse...our first one!), were different than we have normally had.  So all around, we had different people coming to treatment, different nurses, a different appointment time and a different room.  It wasn't until they had to move us to a different room about 2 hours later that we found out why everything was different this time.  Our regular head nurse, Cheryl, was out sick, so we were transferred to a different group for the day.  That explained it...

Because Donny is in a clinical trial we have to wait for his lab results to come back before we can begin treatment.  Side note - Donny has to get blood drawn before EVERY treatment to make sure all his blood counts look ok and that he isn't sick.  Normally the results come in back within a half hour.  This time however, took over an hour for some reason.  So we started an hour and a half later than we normally have the past two treatments.

Finally, the nurse comes in with the medicine and they begin hooking Donny up for treatment.  I noticed that they hooked up a different bag this time.  It was smaller and a little murky and was hooked up right away.  Normally a smaller bag with fluids is hooked up with the last dose of chemo.  My Aunt who went through a lot of medical issues with my Uncle has told me over and over to ask questions.  Question the nurses, doctors and anyone else doing something you're not sure of.  She told me it's always better to ask questions now and make them double check or explain to you rather than have them administer something incorrect and have Donny get sick.  SO, I had a mini freak out in my head but outwardly kept it together and asked the nurse what he was hooking Donny up to.  Totally nonchalantly he said, "Oh, this is just some additional anti-nausea medicine.  We increase the dosage over time because the effects of the treatment are cumulative."  Well gee, thanks buddy.  I'm so thankful that you're changing up meds on us and acting like it's no big deal. Up until this point, our nurses have explained each and every medicine that goes into Donny's body. What if Donny has a reaction or something else and I didn't know they changed anti-nausea medications?  So there I went asking the nurse all these questions:  did Dr. P. prescribed this, is this done with all patients, are there side effects, etc.  When I was fully reassured, the nurse continued setting Donny up and his treatment began.

After the first two drugs were administered or 'pushed' as they say, the nurse came back in and hooked the last medications to Donny's IV.  They also mentioned that because it was late (it was already around 5:30pm) that we might have to change rooms.  Lo and behold, about 15 minutes later, another nurse came in and helped us get our things together to make the move.  As we were walking out she mentioned, "Since it's late and a lot of the nurses have gone home, we're putting you in a double room."

Now, I feel like a spoiled brat because we've had our own room thus far, so when I say this, please don't roll your eyes.  But we were watching a movie in the other room, we could control the heat/air ourselves, and we could talk privately.  So knowing that we now couldn't finish the movie or talk really, it was a bit of a shock.  I didn't even know that they had double rooms.  And when we got to the room, the other people were already in there.  The man getting treatment weighed about 100 lbs soaking wet and looked aweful which really didn't help my positive mental attitude through this whole thing.  And he had two other people with him, so the room with us added to it was jam packed.  The one girl was completely on our side under the curtain, it was a little annoying because her head was pretty much right next to my chair and she kept looking back at me if I laughed loudly.  But again, PMA (postive mental attitude) if that's the worst we encounter, then I'm ok with it.  Some places have communal rooms that I would not want to deal with.  So we are pretty spoiled with the single or double room.

But this is why I said earlier that fate has its ways of working out.  We had never been moved before, let alone been put in a double room before.  So again, it threw off our routien a bit.  Actually, it threw it off a lot.  And if my routien had been thrown off, I can imagine what Mr. G. would have thought if this was his first time coming to treatment.  Granted, this was Michael's first time coming to treatment, but Michael is in medical school and has been in many hospitals before.  If Mr. G. had come, I think he would have been a little freaked out and would have been worried and upset with the double room because we were a little jammed in there.  Even Mrs. G. said to me when we finally got done with treatment that she was she wasn't there for the move because it would have thrown her off too.  And I have to admit, I was not happy with the situation, especially beacuse the new room we were in was freezing cold!  But I couldn't do anything because I didn't want to get Donny worked up so I tried to stay calm.

As the move was going on, the nurse brought us the results of Donny's blood work.  Again, another weird way fate played its course.  Michael, having just graduated Med School, took the sheet and was explaining all the blood work results to us.  He told us that Donny's white blood cell count was pretty much non-existent, which we already knew.  But then, he slightly furrowed his eyebrows and cocked his head to the right and said, "Hmm...your liver enzimes are a little off.  But it's nothing to be alarmed about.  Just keep an eye on that."  He then looked up at us, nodded his head and said everything else looks good.  I didn't detect any concern in his expression, so I mentally noted his comments and put the results away in my folder.

So the fate part, right...skipping ahead now to Thursday, December 13 at about 1pm, Dr. P. called me while I was at work.  Every time my phone rings now during work I jump to answer it because usually it's a doctor or nurse calling about Donny.  So I grabbed my phone and ran into the nearest conference room to answer (I don't like everyone to hear my conversations.)  Dr. P. apologized for not being able to see us during treatment on Tuesday and asked how Donald was feeling (he calls Donny Donald, it makes me laugh a little because no one calls Donny by his full name).  I talked to him shortly about Donny and then he said, "Ok, well I was calling to tell you that we are going to need to change one of Donald's medications.  All of his numbers look really good.  Obviously his white blood count is still low, but it hasn't changed too much since last time so that's ok.  But there is one thing that we often see with the anti-fungal medication Donald is on.  And that would be a slight change in the liver enzimes."  My mom has been hospitalized in the past due to a spike in her liver enzimes and it was scary.  So thank God Michael was with us for treament and forwarned us about the change in enzimes or else I think I would have had a panic attack at work. 

After treatment was done, Donny was feeling really sick.  Our appointment started late and he had not eaten dinner so I know that's why.  He's so stubborn because the second he eats, he feels better, and I kept offering to go to the cafeteria to get him food but he kept refusing.  I just have to start bringing food for him from now on.  When we got home he sat right in his recliner and laid there.  But I was starving because I hadn't eaten dinner either and it was past 8pm.  So after asking Donny what I could get him to eat (I pretty much offered to make him everything in our pantry) and he kept refusing everything, I made a bowl of ceral and sat next to him in the living room.  About 5 spoonfuls into my meal, Donny looked at me and asked, "Maybe could you make me some pasta?"  And of course, after he ate, he felt much better.  I get a stomach ache when I have Tylenol in my stomach without food, so I can't image how he feels after Tylenol, 4 different chemo drugs and 2 anti-nausea medicines in his system.  Poor guy.  But after all is said and done he remains so postive through it all that it makes everything better.

Since I've delayed posting this so much, we have treatment again in two days, on December 26.  Hopefully all goes well.  And then on January 4, Donny gets all his scans done again to check his progress!!  I can't believe it's been two months already.  These really have been the longest two months of my life that somehow seem to have flown by.  I can't beleive it.

Merry Christmas everyone!!  I'll try to be more prompt with my next post!