Yesterday was another day of infusion. I was completely exhausted before hand as I was up ever 20 minutes going to the bathroom with “the runs”. Not fun! My appointment was at 1:00 which means that I would get out of there till 4pm at the best. Another not optimum situation. Dogs were ok, not great, but good for dogs that have been cooped up with no outlet for so long. I wish the person I contacted to train them on the fence would get back to me. I wonder how people like that stay in business. .. . I also guess that’s why I never let my customers go unanswered unless it’s an absolute emergency.
Anyway, the infusion started off on a sour note. The nurse missed the port, sent me through the roof and we’re off. In the exhausted condition I was in, causing me pain elicited an immediate reaction. . .. a yelp and “you missed it” came out of my mouth. She wiggled it around for a second (again, not a comfortable thing) and it finally sat where it could work. I say could work because it was not the best, it still caused me discomfort as the drugs were being pushed through the vein.
Blood tests taken and waiting for the infusion to start . . .. then I heard “I’ll be right back so we can talk. . . never a good sign. I’ve only been to 2 other infusions, but I know that’s code for “something’s wrong and you won’t be getting a treatment today. Instant tears. I can’t be set back another two weeks. If I was set back, it’s not like I would feel good for two weeks, I would feel like I did the past week for another two and then the chemo would set me even more on my butt once I did get it again.
The nurse cam back and said because of the diarrhea, they don’t feel comfortable giving me the infusion until they know it’s not a bacteria or some kind of infection. Through my tears I pleaded and argued that we’ve been here before and I always come out of it fine. The nurse decided to call the PA who made the decision and we started it all over again. PA said “hospital” several times for both right now and if it were an infection and chemo made it worse and I completely discounted both of those thoughts. She, however, was unrelenting, so I asked to have the decision kicked up the the Doctor.
I waited, and waited and waited and waited. Now i’m over one and one half hours into my treatment time with nothing done yet. Oh well. better that giving up and going home for 2 weeks. Just then the doctor came around the corner to check on me. First words out of my mouth were “i told you you drew the short straw when you got me as a patient”. He smiled and agreed 🙂
He checked me over and made me promise 2 things. 1. I would give them stool samples of my next movement and get them back to the center tomorrow and 2. I would take Imodium. I gladly agreed and the infusion started.
The rest was relatively uneventful. I did have to get a substitute nurse to give me the “red devil”. Funny, they inject this poison right into my veins but a pregnant woman can’t even handle the iv bag. Makes you think. I’m sure in 10+ years there will be better stuff for this.
Toward the end of the treatment, I started to get those damn headaches again. Made me think I was going to get the dizzies like the first time. I asked for a Tylenol and after it was over, I left. I had to pick up Imodium before getting home. Just what I wanted, a trek through Walmart 🙁
Headaches continued and I was wiped out. I got home at 5:30 (because of the delay), and let the dogs out. they were VERY ready to be sprung. They played and played. When 8pm rolled around (my and their bedtime), I just couldn’t put them in kennels, just not fair. I decided to go to sleep on the couch and let them do what they wanted. I woke up about 10:45 and to my surprise, they were all asleep with me. . . except Loki who was just sitting wondering what to do next 🙂
I put them to bed and myself retired. By that time the prednisone had kicked in and I wasn’t too sleepy but I hung in there and in about an hour or so, fell to sleep.
What I forgot to mention is that when I put Fergie in her kennel, I purposefully left her kennel door unlatched. I wanted to see if she noticed and what she would do about it. I came out to go to the bathroom at about 6am and while I was there she pushed the door of her kennel opened every so slightly. She would not come out. Her ears were down with concern, but she did stick her muzzle through the opening staring at me. I gave her encouragement and in about 3 minutes she made her way to me. Still confused, she walked around for a bit then I told her I was going back to bed. I opened the bedroom door and up she jumped on the bed and made herself comfortable . . .PERFECT!!!. I then made a fatal mistake. after a few minutes of petting. I found a huge mat that I had to remove. Out came the scissors, down went Fergie. She was very good exploring. Reinforced that she is capable of being left out unkenneled, but this drove Loki nuts. Oh well. . . he’ll get there sooner or later.
As trained, she had to go out and the doorbell rang. I knew it was important because after the bell rang, she came and stared at me. I guess the day is starting early. Let Fergie out, Let Coco out. . .then let the boys out.. . . and it’s just 6:30. It’s going to be a long day.
Headache is worse, jittery from the pred and starting to feel nauseated. . . and we begin another cycle.
TTFN
