First Session of Chemo

Follow-up to yesterday's shenanigans

After yesterday's excitement discussed in the post below, I was happy to be squeezed into the schedule this morning, which had an identical itinerary to yesterday according to the nurse.  I drove my moms car (because she prefers other people driving) to SCCA and showed up in the lab at 7:20am, and they said that I didn't have an appointment with them, who then called up to the nurse who indicated that because I had my blood labs done yesterday I was fine.  I then went up to see the nurse, and they said the same thing, that I didn't have an appointment, which was starting to concern me.  Luckily the receptionist mentioned that because they saw me within 48 hours that I didn't need to see her again.  He also mentioned that I am in the system for a 9am infusion, and that's all that mattered to me.

My mom and I then hung out until 9am when they paged us with a restaurant style buzzer.  We got settled down in bay 12, and the charge nurse was excellent.  She explained everything she was doing, why the process is the way it is, the side effects to be concerned about, and what was next.  

Before we got started, the financial patient care manager even showed up to meet us in person, apologize again, and to give us her business card, and some gift cards to be used in the cafe, gift shop, or for parking.  The PA also showed up and apologized for what happened, so at that point it was obvious that everyone was trying to fix the situation and are truly sorry.

On to the infusion

The infusion began with 2 antimetics (aloxi and something else I don't remember) to remediate the side effects I would be feeling from the chemo.  Then a long 90 minute drip of Bevacizumab (aka avastin, the high-cost drug that caused most of yesterday's delay) with no issue.

After that was a 2 hour drip of Oxaliplatin which created extreme sensitivity to cold, and caused some pressure on my chest and prompted the nurse to halt everything and to give me 2 strong injections of benedryl and call the PA.  The PA consulted with the pharmacist, and concluded that this was perhaps associated with the nerve excitement, and wasn't associated with an allergic reaction.  We then resumed at a slower pace, and once it was determined to be okay, resumed at full speed with no other issues.

This was then followed up with a concurrent 90 minute and 2 hour drip of irinotecan (this is what was added to my regimine that makes it much more intense), and leucovorin respectively which gave me the leg shivers, dizziness, and slurred speech (think 10 rum and diets). The side effects did not concern the doctors much, but just in case, they gave me another anti-anxiety and drowsy inducing drug.  The leg shivers continued, but we were thinking this was perhaps because I've been laying down in bed all day, and the cocktail of all the drugs was releasing some adrenaline.  These continued without issue, and at about 7pm we were done with the infusions at the hospital for a grand total of 7 different drugs given from about 10am to 7pm.

I was then given a home pump (picture below) to continue delivery of 5-FU, which will continue for another 46 hours which we will return on Friday evening and to be disconnected.  At the time of writing, there seems to be continued tingling (perhaps from the irinotecan, not sure), slight dizziness, difficulty walking (from the leg shivers perhaps), and my speech is still slightly slurred.

Summary

Overall, it was clear today that everyone is apologetic for the series of unfortunate events, acknowledges their errors, and it appears they are working hard to make-up for yesterday.  I am pleased with the care that I received today, and am glad the chemo is now in my body to begin fighting the cancer throughout. I just now need to see how the chemo will react and what side effects I will experience, which will continue to present themselves over the next 72 hours for the drugs received today, then another 72 hours after the pump disconnect of the 5-FU Friday evening. Please continue to send thoughts and prayers, and hopefully we'll find these drugs are working effectively! Thanks again to each and every one of you, especially my mom for joining me today and for Sam for doing everything!

Below is a lame first chemo selfie and the take home pump with mouse for scale.