October 7, 2009

Wednesday, October 7

Looks like I am procrastinating again! Sorry about the delay. Lots has been happening.

Lynn got admitted to the hospital on Monday. A room was available pretty early on, so she was there shortly after noon. Gary and Sharon took her in. She got settled in, and then the staff got started with prepping her for the first batch of chemotherapy. This one is for Ritoxin, I believe. From what I can tell, this was one that could have an effect on her heart more than the rest, so as soon as she got the drip started, the nurses monitored her vitals every 15 minutes. She was NOT on a heart monitor, however. The reason, I guess, was that the blood pressure was the biggest concern, and it could be easily checked by the staff.

Both of Lynn's doctors also came in. I got to meet her cardiac specialist, Dr. Jordan. He is a really nice guy, and has an excellent reputation. In two cases, Lynn heard from other people that he was the best in the area, so we are really glad to have him. He also has two things going for him. First, he is a Buckeyes fan...nuff said there. And, second, I am WAY cuter than he is...that means that Lynn won't get one of these dopey "Grey's Anatomy" or "Young and the Restless" things going, where she falls in love with her doctor, and jets off with him to Tortuga or the Bahamas or something.

Dr. Blair, her oncologist from the 8 years ago and who is now involved in the Lynn's sequel, also showed up. This was in spite of the fact that he had arranged for another person working his practice to come in earlier. It looks like he wanted to see how things were going for himself, which was really nice of him. He also told Lynn that she was not allowed to be sick during the first series of chemo that night...the Packers were playing the Vikings, and he did not want to be disturbed.

Getting the IV in was very difficult...the nurse could not get it right, and the tech that came in later had to try twice. To give you an idea on how screwed up her veins are, the technician said that it had been 8 months since she had to do that twice, and she puts in a LOT of IVs. Just to clarify things...that is due to the fact that her blood pressure is low, and due to the fact that earlier chemo damages veins in that way. It does NOT mean that she has been a habitual heroin user!

Well, that was around dinner time...when 7PM rolled around, they started the drip. It was going to take 4 hours...by the time 11PM rolled around, nothing noteworthy had happened - very good news indeed. That meant that her heart was handling at least the first round of the chemo like a champion.

Lynn did not get a great deal of sleep that night, though. For one thing, the staff still wanted to keep an eye on her vitals, so they were waking her up every hour or so. Then, they also wanted blood at 4:30AM (Guess they are like vampires...have to get the work done before the sun comes up!) And, she had an awful case of cold sweating all night long. That is a sign of the cancer, supposedly, but it was much more severe than usual for her, and we have got to think that the chemo had something to do with it.

Next day, things got rolling again with another couple of shots of chemo. Different ones, of course, but she got one early in the day, then another one around noon that was scheduled to last 22 hours. Again, nothing bad happened...also, exactly what we wanted to hear. It all went like clockwork. She had no side effects, other than fatigue, and that was because she could not get any sleep for all the interruptions.

Today, AGAIN, no major problems. Dr. Blair, her oncologist, has established a schedule for the chemo regimen, and she is right on target. Her heart does not appear to be having any difficulty handling the drugs, and we hope it stays that way. Two more IVs today...one went in around noon. That is a major one. She will have a 24 hour drip on that one. If that is the case, she will have had everything by early afternoon, and we can take her home.

All in all, and keeping in mind the overall situation, things are going about as good as possible. No bad side effects, no undue pain, good attitude...hope this is the way things stay. Things are definitely going ot get harder...we both remember that each round of chemo takes more and more out of you, and gets a person more and more tired. But, just seeing how well this one went, with no major side effects, is really cause for optimism. The stronger dose she can take without her heart being affected, the better it will do against the cancer cells, and the better chance she has of knocking the buggers out and getting cured.