Chemoville
Wasted away again in Chemoville.
This morning was pretty rough. Mom's anxiety level was off the charts. We left the house in pouring down rain, she took an anxiety pill, and made it to the hospital for radiation before 8am. She didn't wait long before being called back for her daily dose, unfortunately she got the terrible technician. (of all days) This technician had trouble lining her up so it took longer. Mom said that as she held the position, butt in the air, the radiation machine kept making the running noise over and over. It kinda sounds like the drill at the dentist office. Anyway, the technician wasn't letting Mom know what she was doing. Mom panicked thinking they were zapping her over and over again with radiation. Mom said it was all she could do not to come off the table swinging. With just a little communication from the technician, she could have avoided the panic attack and feelings of claustrophobia. Anyway, this technician doesn't have a clue, too bad there's not some way she could experience the humiliating butt in the air with people drawing red and blue lines on each cheek with an assimilated radiation machine clicking and running. And afterwards, maybe even take a trip to assimilated chemoville for good measure.
Mom's head was pounding as we walked out of the hospital, you could see the pain on her face. She asked me if I thought she could handle some coffee so that maybe the caffeine would take the edge off her headache. As much as I wanted to give her anything to help, I told her it was not a good idea. She's not suppose to have any caffeine when on chemo so I was scared she'd really pay for it later. As we got in the car to head to chemo, I encouraged her to ditch the wig. It was just making the headache worse, cute just wasn't worth it today. She grabbed a hat from the backseat and we went into the chemo clinic.
We walk into the treatment room, first time ever I've seen it empty. Mornings might be the best time to come. I start scanning the faces of the nurses looking for Favorite Nurse. She's not there so Mom picks a recliner to wait. A nurse came to flush her pic line and take blood to check all cell counts. Okay, this nurse was a complete idiot. I guess you could say she was a total multi-tasker because as she messed with Mom's pic line, she obnoxiously chomped on gum all the while flirting with the guy nurse. Boy,when it rains, it pours.
When Idiot Nurse finished, we went back to the waiting room to wait for the doctor. Mom's anxiety pill is not even making a dent on this day. Finally, we were called back to meet the doctor. Mom really likes her doctor, but hates doctor days especially right before chemo. He checked her out and explained the plan for surviving the next round of chemo. He told her that today's blood work showed her red and white blood cells lower than what he'd like, but they'd go ahead with chemo. He gave her an antibiotic prescription to keep at the house. He said to continually check her temp and if it hits 100.0 to call them and start taking the drugs. He's also going to give her a shot on Friday that goes straight to her bone marrow to raise her white blood cell count. Get this, this one shot costs $4000.00! Unbelievable huh? He said to check with the financial person before getting the shot on Friday to make sure insurance will cover it. ( ya think) The nurse said that there won't be a problem, because they can either pay for the $4000.00 shot or risk having to pay $50,000 for a hospital stay. The doctor also said they'd give her more drugs to hopefully fend off the mouth sores and yeast infection. I swear, Mom could open her own pharmacy with all the drugs she's had to buy.
The doctor's head nurse stuck her head in to check on Mom. She's really awesome and was Mom's rescuer when the mouth sores were in full swing. She told Mom that of all her patients, none were as sick as she was and that her mouth sores/yeast infection was about the worse she's seen. There's no guarantee that she won't get the outbreak again, but I know that if we call Rescue Nurse, she'll be right there. After she left the room and Mom and I waited for the doc to come back with the prescriptions, I told Mom, well that explains why she felt so bad and maybe now she could give herself a break from the guilty feeling of not being strong enough. She started crying as we continued to wait for the doc.
Finally, I got up to go find the doc and beg (if I had to) for something to ease Mom's anxiety. He said no problem, the nurse gave us the prescriptions, and we head for our final destination, chemoville. The treatment room has more passengers but still nothing like when we've been there before. We pick a chair far away from the first chair and hopefully away from Idiot Nurse. The second nurse was better and she brought the feel-good shot which was definitely a plus. Mom immediately relaxed as she was injected with chemo. Afterwards, the better nurse hooked up Mom's pump full of 5-FU chemo and we were off as it continues to rain.
We made it home by 11:00 and Mom was in bed minutes later. It's almost 3:00 and with the exception of one trip to the bathroom, a nibble on a cracker, and drink of water she's experienced the first few hours of her trip drunk and knocked out. That's a good thing!
This morning was pretty rough. Mom's anxiety level was off the charts. We left the house in pouring down rain, she took an anxiety pill, and made it to the hospital for radiation before 8am. She didn't wait long before being called back for her daily dose, unfortunately she got the terrible technician. (of all days) This technician had trouble lining her up so it took longer. Mom said that as she held the position, butt in the air, the radiation machine kept making the running noise over and over. It kinda sounds like the drill at the dentist office. Anyway, the technician wasn't letting Mom know what she was doing. Mom panicked thinking they were zapping her over and over again with radiation. Mom said it was all she could do not to come off the table swinging. With just a little communication from the technician, she could have avoided the panic attack and feelings of claustrophobia. Anyway, this technician doesn't have a clue, too bad there's not some way she could experience the humiliating butt in the air with people drawing red and blue lines on each cheek with an assimilated radiation machine clicking and running. And afterwards, maybe even take a trip to assimilated chemoville for good measure.
Mom's head was pounding as we walked out of the hospital, you could see the pain on her face. She asked me if I thought she could handle some coffee so that maybe the caffeine would take the edge off her headache. As much as I wanted to give her anything to help, I told her it was not a good idea. She's not suppose to have any caffeine when on chemo so I was scared she'd really pay for it later. As we got in the car to head to chemo, I encouraged her to ditch the wig. It was just making the headache worse, cute just wasn't worth it today. She grabbed a hat from the backseat and we went into the chemo clinic.
We walk into the treatment room, first time ever I've seen it empty. Mornings might be the best time to come. I start scanning the faces of the nurses looking for Favorite Nurse. She's not there so Mom picks a recliner to wait. A nurse came to flush her pic line and take blood to check all cell counts. Okay, this nurse was a complete idiot. I guess you could say she was a total multi-tasker because as she messed with Mom's pic line, she obnoxiously chomped on gum all the while flirting with the guy nurse. Boy,when it rains, it pours.
When Idiot Nurse finished, we went back to the waiting room to wait for the doctor. Mom's anxiety pill is not even making a dent on this day. Finally, we were called back to meet the doctor. Mom really likes her doctor, but hates doctor days especially right before chemo. He checked her out and explained the plan for surviving the next round of chemo. He told her that today's blood work showed her red and white blood cells lower than what he'd like, but they'd go ahead with chemo. He gave her an antibiotic prescription to keep at the house. He said to continually check her temp and if it hits 100.0 to call them and start taking the drugs. He's also going to give her a shot on Friday that goes straight to her bone marrow to raise her white blood cell count. Get this, this one shot costs $4000.00! Unbelievable huh? He said to check with the financial person before getting the shot on Friday to make sure insurance will cover it. ( ya think) The nurse said that there won't be a problem, because they can either pay for the $4000.00 shot or risk having to pay $50,000 for a hospital stay. The doctor also said they'd give her more drugs to hopefully fend off the mouth sores and yeast infection. I swear, Mom could open her own pharmacy with all the drugs she's had to buy.
The doctor's head nurse stuck her head in to check on Mom. She's really awesome and was Mom's rescuer when the mouth sores were in full swing. She told Mom that of all her patients, none were as sick as she was and that her mouth sores/yeast infection was about the worse she's seen. There's no guarantee that she won't get the outbreak again, but I know that if we call Rescue Nurse, she'll be right there. After she left the room and Mom and I waited for the doc to come back with the prescriptions, I told Mom, well that explains why she felt so bad and maybe now she could give herself a break from the guilty feeling of not being strong enough. She started crying as we continued to wait for the doc.
Finally, I got up to go find the doc and beg (if I had to) for something to ease Mom's anxiety. He said no problem, the nurse gave us the prescriptions, and we head for our final destination, chemoville. The treatment room has more passengers but still nothing like when we've been there before. We pick a chair far away from the first chair and hopefully away from Idiot Nurse. The second nurse was better and she brought the feel-good shot which was definitely a plus. Mom immediately relaxed as she was injected with chemo. Afterwards, the better nurse hooked up Mom's pump full of 5-FU chemo and we were off as it continues to rain.
We made it home by 11:00 and Mom was in bed minutes later. It's almost 3:00 and with the exception of one trip to the bathroom, a nibble on a cracker, and drink of water she's experienced the first few hours of her trip drunk and knocked out. That's a good thing!
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