5th chemo treatment- longest treatment of my life

So the day finally came. It's strange how I look forward to this day and dread it at the same time. I love seeing my "chemo buddies" because they alone know exactly what I'm going through. No matter what you tell your friends and family, it's not the same. Plus it feels like I'm doing something active to further my treatment instead of just sitting on my rear end. Also, I don't have to impress anyone there. I can go without makeup, wear a simple hat or not one at all. And no one cares. More than half have already lost their hair and it's just understood there. No judging at all. Thurdays are busy and there is lots of talking and my friends and I sit together and chatter most of the time we are there.

But since Mom had to run off the that great family get together in Idaho, Jason took the day off work and came with me. He's only met my doctor once and has never seen me get chemo. He just knows how I am after the treatments. It was kind of nice. He hates needles, so when they got ready to stick me, I made him go to the car and get my magazine and also to find me a slurpee at the 7-11 down the road. I think he was happy to go. lol

I ended up sitting next to Tonya and kitty-corner to Donna. Sue showed up much later and wasn't near us. But I got my two favorite ladies and that was nice. Tonya's dh Wayne had a Big dog shirt on and they were talking about fishing and you could see Jason's eyes light up and that helped him calm down a bit. That and when Tonya and I were talking about how they kill halibut made him laugh. I never knew they smack em on the head with a baseball bat till I saw dh's video in Alaska. But the boys had that in common and I was glad. Donna had her husband Sam were there and Jason got to shake hands all around. I was so happy that all the boys were there so Jason could see the support that they brought to their wives.

That was one very long treatment. We got there for a 10:30am treatment. After waiting for the doctor and then the chemo drugs to start, I got started around 11:30ish or so. I had mixture of tagamet and benedryl to help with heartburn and possible reactions and allergys to the taxol. That took a while. Then the drugs had stopped and it took the nurses a while to figure it out. Then My taxol started. That took at least 3 hours to get in. Then after that I had my dose of gemzar. So after all was said and done, I didn't get my line out til after 5pm. They were being extra cautious since it was my first taxol treatment and there is a good chance of allergic reactions so they gave it to me really slow, same as with the gemzar.

I got bored quickly so I was bugging Jason a lot. I know that John was home and I'm sure we called him a lot. But, we were able to bring his laptop to the treatment center and watch some Friends dvds on it so that helped for a while. Then I got a phone call and closed the lid. We couldn't get dvd player to work again. So dh played solitare and I tried to read my magazines again and do word searches.

I didn't feel sick or anything. I had taken 20 miligrams of dextamethasone the night before and in the morning and took my Emend while at the chemo place. So there was no chance of being sick ot my stomach. I was a bit slowed down after the benedryl but nothing to knock me out with. I made sure I had a lot to drink and had plenty of Gatorade when we got home. Even had leftover macaroni salad that my mil left me. I thought for sure I would be exhausted and ready for bed the minute I got home. But even though I was super tired, it was managable. I'm up this morning and though I'm tired, I don't have any pain anywhere at all. I was anxious and worried about that too. But it's still early, so I'm taking it easy today. Grandma has the girls today and I'm very happy about that.

I'm joining the Relay for Life event going on in Vancouver next week. There was a brochure for it at the treatment center yesterday. It was an invitation to all cancer surviviors to join in the "Celebration for Life". It's July 22nd and even if I'm not staying for the whole 24 hour event, I want to go for a little while. It's hard to see me as a survivor of this disease, because I'm not sure I like that word. I'm living with cancer and doing my best to conquer it. I'm kind of excited but scared at the same time.

I'm going to make myself a present. Even if it take me a year to save for it, I'm going to do it. My mil's friend is going skydiving tomorrow in Mollala and Jason is going with the inlaws and the girls to see it and videotape it. My gift for me is when all my surgeries are done and my health allows it, I'm going to go do a tandem skydiving jump and have it videotapped. It cost extra, but I think it would be incredible to have that on tape so if anything ever happens, my girls can see it and it gives me something to look forward to even if I'm terrified to do it. We'll see.