Chemo Eve

Well, we've made it to chemo eve! I had my shiny new PICC line installed this morning. The PICC (peripherally inserted central catheter) is a thin tube that goes into a vein in my upper arm and is threaded through all the way to my heart. Where it leaves my body there is an insanely sticky bandaid over the tube so that it won't move or come out. The outside end of the tube is soft and flexible; it sort of folds over on itself and I can cover it with a fabric sleeve to keep it out of the way. Every week the dressing will be changed and the line flushed to make sure it stays clean and functional. I will have this in my arm for just 5-6 weeks at which time I will become EVEN MORE bionic. More on that later.


My big job this afternoon is to pack my bag for chemo! I will be there for 4 hours or so. I've got LOTS of things to bring and do (knitting, embroidery, reading, podcasts, etc.) and I also need to pack snacks and probably some layers. Rick will drop me off at RVH early for my MRI and then join me about half-way through my chemo at 11 or so. 

Friday and Saturday I have appointments to get some IV hydration (to help my body with the chemo; dehydration is BAD). On Saturday they will also teach Rick to give me an injection that I'll get once after each chemo treatment to help my body produce white blood cells. The drug is a long-acting form of human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) which is a natural hormone in our bodies. Injecting some more of it helps give the body a little help since chemotherapy hits the immune system pretty hard.

Many more lovely gestures of care and kindness this week! Good conversations, thoughtful messages, beautiful dog strolls, daffodils, hats (I'm going to have to do a whole post about hats!), and some Easter treats (sweet stuff and cheese and meat) are among the things I am thankful for.

I'll report again sometime this weekend to let everyone know how I'm feeling. I hope the weather turns out a little better than it looks right now for the long weekend, and that everyone takes the opportunity to get some fresh air!


Comments

  1. EmilyApril 13, 2022 at 2:49 PM

    Good luck tomorrow, Amy! We'll be thinking about you all day and sending enormous hugs and love!

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownApril 14, 2022 at 3:47 PM

    We are thinking of you and sending good vibes your way. Here's hoping that your first round of chemo has gone well and that you feel well afterwards. Big hugs!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. BethApril 14, 2022 at 8:53 PM

    I love how you are a teacher through and through. I hope that things go smoothly tomorrow. I'll be thinking of you. 💜

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousApril 28, 2022 at 12:52 AM

    Hope your first chemo has gone well, you are powerful enough to beat it up and recover soon. See you soon sister.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I've Got Cancer

  So, it's official...I've got cancer. I wasn't surprised to hear those words. Sometimes you just have a feeling. We are still waiting for some results from pathology that will provide us with more details about the type of cancer. This information will be important for deciding on the sequence of treatment. The initial report shows that I have cancer in my breast and also in the axillary lymph node they biopsied. Based on our conversation with the doctor today, we are fairly certain that both chemotherapy and surgery will be required. On Monday I have an appointment with a surgeon and hopefully by then we will have most/all of the information we need to figure out what happens next. A good piece of news is that my bone scan was clear! I was very happy to hear this, because when you think you might have cancer you have the tendency to over-analyze little aches and pains. I'm glad my hips only ache because of 'old age.' ;) I am in very good hands. We are so thank...
Read more

Setback

Image
Well, any of you who know me will understand that I don't like failing tests! Today I went for my pre-chemo bloodwork and my platelet level was lower than my oncologist would have liked. This means that tomorrow's treatment is postponed until next week. I find this annoying more than anything. I don't like changes in my schedule and I also dislike the thought of my treatment taking longer than I imagined.  The silver lining (because I am good at finding those) is that I get another week of feeling AMAZING. More walks, more fun, increased enjoyment of food...I'll take it! Even though I don't have a choice. :)  Also, more time to MAKE THINGS. This week I finished my latest embroidery sampler. It helped us learn 6 different 'filler' stitches and though it took a long time I love the different textures and colours. I'm thinking my nurses would dig it! Our visit with our Peterborough friends earlier this week was great. Like balm for my soul. We walked and pl...
Read more

Check Out My Heart!

Image
This morning I had an echocardiogram to check on my heart health before I begin my treatment. Cancer treatment can sometimes be hard on the heart, so getting a good picture of my current heart health will help us identify if there are any changes over time. This was, of course, another opportunity to geek out a little bit. The 'echo' is an ultrasound of the heart. It took about 30 minutes to take the required images. They gather information about the heart muscle, the valves, and blood flow. After all of the images and videos were collected, the technician showed me a whole bunch of them. To look at blood flow they use doppler imaging, so the colour of something (in this case blood) moving towards the probe is different than the colour of something moving away from the probe. Very cool to see. I wish I had an image to share with you.  I got a peek at several different parts of my heart including a really nice cross-section of my aortic valve (which is a normal, healthy tricuspi...
Read more