Day 36, Thursday, 07:00pm

Hello all,
Today was just as advertised.

We arrived in Scarborough at 7:45am for R/T. Following that we had a brief meeting with a dietitian on the R/T side, and at 9am we visited with a Nurse Practitioner over on the chemo side who set Anne up to use the mediport for the first time. This involved application of some cold prep (ethyl chloride spray) to the area where the port lives. Then a needle with a small fixture on it was inserted directly into the middle of the port. The fixture was taped to her upper chest, and the tubing to her clothing. This fixture can be used over and over for about a week. Anne didn't feel the needle at all. Some blood was drawn, and we were off down the hall to the 'treatment' room.

The chemo treatments started at about 10am. Chemo was preceeded by some infused nausea meds, followed by a bag of hydration, then a bag of vitamin 'P' (a solution that makes you pee). It's a vicious cycle, fill you with fluids, and make you pee. A three hour double dose of Cysplatin chemo was next. This was no problem for Anne and I could tell it wasn't bothering her by the look on her face.

That all lasted till about 3pm when the fanny pack w/pump was set up and connected to Anne's mediport. The instructions to use the pump were simple, if it beeps over the weekend, just check the tubing for kinks, then call the hospital hot line for assistance if necessary.

At 3:15 the infusion pump with the new 5-FU chemo was turned on. It involves 8400mg of this medicine infused at a very slow rate, now till Monday. The pump has a digital counter and when that displays approximately 192, it will be Monday and we'll be on the way in to have it removed.

Within 5 minutes Anne broke into a sweat and was real uncomfortable, so we notified the attendant Nurses. As the Dr observed and we waited 15 minutes or so for this to settle down, Anne became very nauseous (sp?). Anti-nausea meds were infused and did not seem to help too much for the first 15 minutes after. After more watching and waiting, we packed it in and headed home around 4:15. Anne was instructed to use the nausea and pain meds we have at home as needed tonight for any of these normal side effects.

At home now Anne wanted a hamburger for dinner. It was done. She is feeling awful right now. She has taken pain meds, immodium, stool softener, and nausea meds for the evening, and now she is asleep in the living room. I hope and pray for the best for Anne overnight tonight, tomorrow, and this weekend.

Tomorrow we will be in Scarborough again for R/T at 8am, and then off to the treatment room for hydration for a couple hours in the morning. Let's hope that is all she will need tomorrow. I expect she will need the hydration on Sat and Sun too, to make her feel as well as possible during this time.

This was a super long day. Anne certainly needs lots of rest tonight.

Your thoughts and prayers are very much appreciated. Thanks for being there.