Round 5: A Blur

Sorry for the lack of update, but it's been a whirlwind round 5. I had my fifth round of chemo on a rainy Friday afternoon. I promised myself I wouldn't make those afternoon appointments and I was reminded why. It took forever to get called back because the nurses were returning from lunch break. There are two chemo chair set ups, one is in a semi-private area with halfwalls and enough room for visitors and another almost in the walkway. You guessed it......... we got the walkway seat! My veins were cooperative and my nurse was able to get my IV in fairly quickly (as my treatment has continued my veins have gotten less and less cooperative). It did feel a little odd though and she must have noticed because she left it uncovered (not wrapped in tape like usual).

My first drug (and the strongest) went in fine. During administration of the second drug, I noticed the IV site getting red, followed quickly by three bubbles. I didn't see my nurse, but yelled the name of the one nurse I knew (a fellow BV High School grad) who immediately came over and crimped the line. The IV had infiltrated, meaning that the medicine was no longer going into my vein. I was lucky because she had left it uncovered I caught it early. They said that depending on the drug it can actually burn your skin and they have seen cases that require immediate skin graphs. I was only left with a mighty fine bruise.......that still remains three weeks later.

The rest of the treatment went fine and we closed down the treatment center since we were then running a half hour behind. There was only one nurse and the nurse manager left :-) I was a little worried that the adverse reaction might give me a little trouble in my recovery. The side effects seemed to be the same, queasy stomach the first few days and exhaustion. I have noticed that the bottoms of my feet are tingly, a cumulative effect that we were warned about. Other than that, the three weeks have flown by!