Yesterday was my first chemo treatment. For my armor I choose a shirt given to me by my friend Richard, a professional knight turned DP and screenwriter, now doing another stint as a knight. It's all very complicated, but makes perfect sense once you meet him. It's a t-shirt he wore under his for real armor when he jousted. You can see a picture of this and other shirts I've already worn to appointments in the gallery of armor.
The photo at left is the first drug - the dreaded Adriamycin (also known as doxorubicin) going in. It's the "A" in the ABVD, and the one that makes you lose your hair. But as I told it right before the nurse hooked it up to the IV - "nice try buddy, but you can't have my curls because I already cut them and donated them to a little kid and now I look like Joan Jett, which suits my rocker personality much better, so HA."
The first treatment was nothing like I expected -- mostly because I expected to sit and catch up on my summer reading, dantily eating snacks and holding court with all of my lovely chemo visitors while the drugs did their thing. Little did I know that the benadryl they gave me ahead of time to help mitigate the side effects, would make it more like all those drug experiences I never had in college. Seriously I was knocked the f* out from about minute 10, curled up, covered with blankets and completely incoherent, talking about unicorns and other very important stuff.
Needless to say I was not such good company for said chemo visitors, but they were awesome anyway. Thanks to Lynn for agave sweetened ice cream and Jedi princess fleece blankets, Deilia for sneaking out of work, and Annie for bringing me the giraffe figurine and crazy goddess pendant that she was sure mom would want me to have. And thanks to Charlie for manning central command, running interference with the doctor, for yummy Pret lunch (enjoyed pre-pass out) and for shuttling me to and from in Rocinante the wonder Jeep. Today has been a little more rough than I thought - headache, a little dodgy in the tummy and flushed (but no fever as I feared earlier -- good thing as this would mean a bad reaction to the drugs.) They say that day 3 is the worst. Can't wait for that fun!
The photo at left is the first drug - the dreaded Adriamycin (also known as doxorubicin) going in. It's the "A" in the ABVD, and the one that makes you lose your hair. But as I told it right before the nurse hooked it up to the IV - "nice try buddy, but you can't have my curls because I already cut them and donated them to a little kid and now I look like Joan Jett, which suits my rocker personality much better, so HA."
The first treatment was nothing like I expected -- mostly because I expected to sit and catch up on my summer reading, dantily eating snacks and holding court with all of my lovely chemo visitors while the drugs did their thing. Little did I know that the benadryl they gave me ahead of time to help mitigate the side effects, would make it more like all those drug experiences I never had in college. Seriously I was knocked the f* out from about minute 10, curled up, covered with blankets and completely incoherent, talking about unicorns and other very important stuff.
Needless to say I was not such good company for said chemo visitors, but they were awesome anyway. Thanks to Lynn for agave sweetened ice cream and Jedi princess fleece blankets, Deilia for sneaking out of work, and Annie for bringing me the giraffe figurine and crazy goddess pendant that she was sure mom would want me to have. And thanks to Charlie for manning central command, running interference with the doctor, for yummy Pret lunch (enjoyed pre-pass out) and for shuttling me to and from in Rocinante the wonder Jeep. Today has been a little more rough than I thought - headache, a little dodgy in the tummy and flushed (but no fever as I feared earlier -- good thing as this would mean a bad reaction to the drugs.) They say that day 3 is the worst. Can't wait for that fun!
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