1st Chemo Session

Sorry about the previous blank post.   I would blame it on the cat, but he’s across the room fast asleep.  I finished by first session this morning, so far I have not experienced any side effects.  I hope I didn’t Just jinx myself!  

My session began Wednesday morning.  I plopped myself down in a comfy recliner, put my feet up and waited for the nurse to fix me up with today’s special.  An appetizer was served first, a simple flush of my spiffy new power port.  The power port is about the diameter of a quarter and it is discreetly hidden under my skin on the right side of my hairy chest (more about that later).  The advantage of the port is that to infuse chemo or dye for a CT scan, the nurse simply inserts a special needle thru my skin into the port.  It is painless and quick.  No pokey-pokey as the nurse looks for a good vein.  Of course the chemo nurses here are very good at finding a vein, but as the chemo sessions mount the veins breakdown, making it more and more difficult, painful and stressful. This boy will most likely doing some form of infusion therapy for the balance of my life, so I am thankful for the cool titanium power port. 

Jimmy’s very first chemo session

The next course was a delightful anti nausea medication and then leucovorin.  This took about an hour.  I kicked back, plugged my ear buds into my iPhone and dialed up some Bill Evans jazz.   The entree was served next, a superbly prepared 5FU.  Ah… 5FU, my favorite suicide inhibitor that will kill the bastard tumors.  I can hear their little screams now, a lovely sound it is.  The 5FU is served in a sloooooow infusion over a 46 hour period, so I decided to take the entree “to-go”.   They placed the 5FU into a small pump, hooked it up to my power port and tucked the pump into a pocket in a binder that wraps around my mid section. The binder fits under my shirt, very stealth.  The nurse put a water proof bandage, with VERY secure adhesive, over the port so the I could take a shower.  They said au revoir and bid me a fond adieu.    

This morning, 46 hours later, I went back to the office to return the empty pump.  Everything was fine and dandy until the nurse removed the water proof bandage (the one with VERY secure adhesive), from my hairy “monkey man” chest.  I felt like Steve Carell in the Forty Year Old Virgin.  OUCH!!!  I will be shaving that patch for the next session!