My Status: Mush-Brained
Mood: Good

My brain is mush… seriously, it feels numb. So please forgive any typos or nonsense sentences in the following. Today’s chemo went well, although it was a slow process. I arrived at 0900 to start my first bag—the one I had an allergic reaction to during Cycle 2. Six-and-a-half hours later, we finally managed to make it to bag 2. Looking at the time, a collective sigh went up because I’ve never managed bag 2 in under 3.5 hours. But this time it was different. This time we were using the Power PAC … In slightly less than 2 hours bag 2 was history. THAT is the power of the Power PAC.

Take a moment to imagine me sitting there watching the bag deflate, fist pumping, and singing “I got the Power”.

What makes the difference? When using the veins in my arms, they are big enough to handle the IV full flow, so even when not having to run the drip slow because of the potential for allergic reaction, they had to run me slower than most because of my veins. But the Power PAC is installed in my jugular… and if the jugular can’t handle it, then I’m giving up. Not really, but still…. Due to the larger vein size, it can handle the chemo at an improved rate, so likely my day 2 and day 3 times will decrease. Excuse me while I happy dance for a bit. Oh and the increased rate is probably responsible for the brain haze/numbness I’m experiencing at the moment because before I had more time to combat it. Definitely a good thing I have drivers taking me home.

When I went for my labs yesterday, I had the nurse re-bandage my port area because it was ridiculous. I had tape from the outside of my right arm to the middle of my sternum. And gauze… oh my goodness, the gauze. Over the weekend, I thought about offering my services to a football team for the play-offs. I’m sure they would have bounced off my gauze. And one of the most important (to me) aspects is that tomorrow I will be able to shower normally because THERE IS NO NEEDLE IN ME. The chemo nurse took the needle out because there is a limit to the number of days it should be left in… and I was at the max. So tomorrow a new needle for Wednesday and Thursday, and not another one for a month. YA!!!!

I like the picture for this post because it shows a beautiful, gorgeous, really, sky with only a few fluffy white clouds on the horizon. It sums up my day. Hard to be confined for that long day, and the brain numbness takes some getting used to, but overall—Terrific.