First chemo on the inhaled trial
Wee Teck and Jessica came to dinner a few days ago and brought some very nice baklava. The pieces were made with pistachios or cashews; both have the same oil that poison ivy has (urushiol). I'm very allergic to poison ivy, and, as I found out yesterday, I'm now allergic to pistachios/cashews. Imagine poison ivy on your lips, on your gums, and on the roof of your mouth. My chemo treatment was pretty rough today, and it might have been partially due to my allergic reaction to the pistachios/cashews.
The chemo treatment wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. Tom dropped me off at 8am. It took quite a while for them to set up and for the chemo to arrive. While Mom and Dad and I visited for an hour, Jud (the respiratory therapist) set up. He put up the tent and put together the box that contained the mister for the chemo. Then the nurses accessed my port (for blood drawing). They put EKG sensors on me, a blood pressure cuff on my right arm, a gown, a cap, latex gloves, an oxygen monitor on my finger, a nose clip, and I got inside the tent. Dad was taking pictures during this time. At this point, Dad and Mom went back to the waiting room, and the treatment began.
Jud practiced some breaths with me. My treatment was 20 breathing cycles, 5 minutes of rest, and 20 more cycles. As with the dosing study, a cycle was 5 normal breaths, and then a deep breath which is held for 4 seconds. The deep breath and the first breath following the deep breath caused me to cough. It was a good thing that I was in a tent or the observers would have been breathing chemo with me! (That's assuming that it would have made it thru their masks; they were wearing gowns, latex gloves, caps and masks.) While breathing, I also seemed to produce a lot of saliva, causing me to drool. I had to spit in a special cup (since it contained chemotherapy) instead of swallowing. (Of course, I swallowed a number of times, forgetting that I wasn't supposed to.) The rash on my lips caused the mouthpiece to be uncomfortable.
The chemo itself (or the alcohol that it was in) irritated my throat. The doctor wanted me to breathe less deeply, which I found hard since it felt like I wasn't getting enough air. Plus, there were 6 people watching me breathe; it is hard not to think about your breath in that situation. Jud said that I seemed to have more problems with the treatment than previous patients.
Once the chemo was over, a blood sample was taken. Another one was taken 25
minutes later. And, again after 30 minutes. Then, we went to have lunch. Dad
left to go home. Another blood sample. Mom and I went to the rec room and did a
craft project. Another blood sample. We went back to the rec room, and listened
to a vocalist. Mom left for home. Finally, the last blood sample at 4:45. Tom
got there at 5:45 to bring me home.
