Chemo - Part I (Thru Vicki's eyes)

UPDATE: Here are a couple of pictures of John in his "chemo chair". There are a few other shots in this album too, including a shot of some of those icky gall stones.

So the first chemo treatment is over. Everything so far seems fairly "normal", whatever that is (one has to wonder after all the BS we've been going thru in the last few months). John came home and had a sandwich and is watching a movie before he heads off to work. Me, I'm needing a nap. Pain pills and anti biotics take their toll I guess and my energy level is low.

Because John's chemo is only 30 minutes, there's not very much time to settle in. Hell, you can hardly read a Newsweek article in that time, much less get out the knitting and the snacks. I did take some time to write my impressions tho, and that's what I'll share here. John's mileage may vary from mine. That's nothing unusual, but I'll let him write his own when he can get around to it.

It was somewhat shocking to walk into the chemo area and see so many people being treated in so many different stages of this disease. Young people, old people, bald people and some people that looked like they were just executives on their lunch breaks. I had a moment where reality touched down into my small crack of denial and it was hard to keep my emotions in check. John was sweet about it, then a few minutes later, he had one of those moments for himself.

Some patients come in and stay for hours. John only has to stay for 30 minutes. One guy has to come every day for 5 days in a row and stay for 3 hours each time. He gets some time off after that, then gets right back into it. He brings himself a little DVD player to pass the time. Having just started treatment, he looked healthy & robust. I hope he'll recover from his testicular cancer as well as Lance Armstrong did.

It was amazing how many people looked so healthy. It being our first time, we were a little wide eyed I think, but most people just seemed very blase about the whole ordeal. They brought in their blankets (even tho it's 93 degrees here today) and they just sat down and got ready to rumble. In spite of the chemo class that we took, we were still unprepared for how the experience affected us.

As we move forward, it seems the trickiest part will be the scheduling. With blood testing, seeing the oncologist and making sure the schedule is consistent during the cycle, it all seems a little daunting to keep up with. Imagine the little confusion I have, multiplied by all the patients they see there every single day. Yikes!

So, that's it. John is taking the anti nausea medicine and they have scheduled him to continue taking that for at least 3 days. They say the really icky effects won't really happen till after he's had 2 or 3 treatments. They say he'll probably keep his hair and the most they expect is a little fatigue or slight flu like symptoms. I hope that what they say is right. I've seen the effects of chemo on other family and some friends and I think John will be really lucky if the predictions are realistic.

Thanks for stopping in. It means alot to me, and I'm sure to John, to know that people are keeping track of his progress and that care enough to make the effort.

I wish you all peace, love and hope
Vicki