#14 Tumoriffic!

Quite a bit has happened since my last post.  Angie and I went back to MDA on December 20th for round two.  The infusion center at MDA moved to their brand new, and much less roomy location on the second floor of the hospital.  They had been using a section of the hospital that was designed for inpatient care and the rooms were pretty roomy and had their own restroom.  The new area is an outpatient care area and the rooms are roughly 10X6 without a restroom.  During the first treatment I probably made my way to the facilities ~10X.  I was dreading making the walk down the hall every 30 minutes or so.

We got situated in the room and waited for our nurse to pop in.  She stopped by with her small cart of needles and tubing and we got down to business. I was wondering if we could take video in the hospital and I asked specifically if we could video her accessing my port.  I thought it was pretty cool the first time around and thought it might be cool to post it here.  It wasn't too big of a deal for me, but looking back, I'm sure that it added some pressure on the nurse.  She prepped the needle and tubing and gave me the same instructions to count to three and on three, take a deep breath and hold it.  I dont know what the deal was but she counted 1,2,3, and stuck me before I knew what was going on.  More medical humor that I wasn't picking up on?  Anyhow, the nurse went to draw blood to check the line and wasn't getting anything.  She proceeded to fish around with the needle and she still wasn't getting anything.  After attempt #3,  Angie started shaking her head and I started getting nervous.  I'm sure the nurse was feeling the same if not more so.  I would guess that she was afraid of becoming a Youtube star.  After try #4, we hit pay dirt.  Come to find out, my port is a bit tilted.  I couldn't give you a specific reason for the tilt, but I would guess that it has something to do with my massive pecs.  Just sayin,

The treatment itself went like clockwork.  I didn't have any reactions to the medication, and thus, didn't have any massive doses of Benadryl or hot flashes.  I believe the treatment lasted about 5.5 hours. As an added bonus,  I didn't have to make a dozen trips to the restroom.  I believe that this might actually be anecdotal evidence that the mass may be on the retreat.  I haven't had near the pressure on my bladder as of late.  My brother Trent mentioned that his Hodgkins mass made a significant reduction after his first treatment.  I hope mine did the same.  I guess we will find out in a few weeks after my next PET scan.

All in all,  I left the hospital feeling about as good as when I had arrived.  I was able to drive myself home and didn't start feeling poorly until 3 or 4 hours later. My blood test prior to the treatment indicated that my levels were close to normal.  The doc decided not to order a Nuelasta shot this round to see how I would bounce back on my own.  The shot is usually given 24 hours after chemo to boost blood cell production.  I don't know if it was the lack of the shot, or if it was evidence of the accumulative fatigue, but It took me a few days to feel normal.  I ended up getting sick late Friday and didn't really feel well until Sunday afternoon.


Other non-medical items
We spent Christmas eve, and Christmas day at the Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine TX.  I haven't ever spent Christmas away from home, (still not sure what to think of it) but I was the odd man out and we made the trip up.  The lodge itself has a massive indoor waterpark and we had a great time with our friends.  It actually helped us stretch the Christmas magic out a little longer.  Check it out,  


Next up:

• 1/7 - Blood work
• 1/10 - Round 3  (only 9 more to go)