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Cancer

Hospital Time, Week 1

Evidently Mondays are the busiest days for being admitted to the hospital. So, my admittance got pushed to Tuesday. With how fast this cancer grows, everyday counts.

We were glad to hear that we had a confirmed admittance Tuesday afternoon. I would still be able to get the chemo started on the same day, which was most important to me, just get this started before they get any bigger. There was some debate among the nurses on how to best deliver the chemo, considering that it’s pretty harmful to vein integrity.

A PICC line (semi-permanent IV that goes through the inside of your arm, between the bicep and tricep and drops a line all the way to your aorta,) was recommended, and scheduled for install the next day.

In the meantime, I got a peripheral IV. Good enough to start all the anti-nausea, steroids, and electrolyte balancing infusions.

Finally, at around 9PM, I got my first infusion of chemo started, Paclitaxel. Thus begins the 24 hour infusion. I try to sleep, but I’m fighting the end of a cold, and there are tons of noise from the hallway, so it ends up being a fairly terrible night.

Around 4AM I got some Ibuprofen, and that helped a lot. Still have to keep waking up for vitals (blood pressure, O2, temperature, sometimes weight,) to be taken every 4 hours.

Suffice it to say I had to make some rather large adjustments to survive that first night. But, I’m on my way!

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