I have been trying to decide what to say about my very, very long first day of chemo.  I arrived at 9:00 a.m. and left at 2:30 p.m.  Danielle was able to be with me the entire time.  We managed to play nice with everyone.  Actually, Danielle played nice and listened to all the instructions.  I zoned out at some point and resorted to just smiling and nodding.
 
I had so many visitors — social services, nutrition, patient relations, and on and on.  I pretty much tuned out until I heard the word “massage” and then I perked up and said, “Heck yes I want one!”  And each person had a business card and printed materials to go along with their talk.  I’m going to have to buy a special business card holder for all my physician cards and cancer center cards.  And as Gene said, I’m going to need a bigger folder for Breast Cancer.

We had a lovely room with a window, and the chair had seat heaters and vibrators!  You can’t hardly beat that.  And there was a snack lady.  About once an hour, she came around with a basket of goodies to tempt and treat me.  All those forbidden snacks over the years were in one, handy basket that came waving in front of me.  It was just too much!  One of my “trigger foods” that I don’t allow in the house is Chex Mix because I just can’t stop eating it.  And there it sat, in not one, but two flavors in the basket.  And they were free!  Is this heaven — nope, still chemo, but it comes with perks.  I sipped and snacked for five hours.  Oddly enough, the thing that tasted the best was the little container of cottage cheese that I shared with Danielle.  (By the way, visitors get access to the snack basket as well, oh boy!)

Chemo starts with all the pre-meds.  Anti nausea, etc.  It seems like there are dozens of IV bags and some drip for 10 minutes, some 5, and the last one is an hour.  And then there is the “direct push” chemo meds that come in a hazardous materials bag.  I have to say, it took everything in me to sit still and not panic when that medicine was given to me.

But I survived my first chemo and was able to drive myself home.  I’m now 25% done with Phase I.