chemo/radiation...frist day

I had my first radiation and chemo today. I had asked the doctor on the previous day if it would be okay for me to take an Ativan before coming in. I was told that it would be fine and so I took one. Thr Ativan made a significant difference. It calmed me down when the mask was applied. The radiation mask conforms tightly to my face when latched to the table. I can barely move my Adam’s Apple when I swallow. I also have the rigid mouth piece that is attached to the mask. This guarantees that I can move nothing from my shoulders up. The nurse did cut out eye holes for me which made me feel less confined. I can see where a claustrophobic person could have a bad time. The whole procedure took about forty five minutes. Ten minutes of that time was for photos of the affected area. It really wasn’t to bad. Pat watched from behind a window. She was impressed with the whole scene.
I felt no discomfort other than I was a little light headed from the Ativan.
The chemo treatment started immediately following the radiation. An IV was inserted into my left forearm, and blood was drawn so that my blood counts could be measured. They were okay. I will have my blood drawn once each week to insure that they don’t get to low. There are medicines as well as blood transfusions if necessary. I have donated 29 pints so I guess that I have earned a pint or two ( of blood that is). A bag of saline solution was run through the IV first. Shortly after that a bag of potassium solution was run through the IV. This took about two hours. Next a small bag of a steroid solution was fed through the tube. This was followed by a needle containing an anti-nausea medicine. I also had to take an anti-nausea pill at this time. The bag of chemo was then hung and was run through the IV. This took and additional two hours. I felt no discomfort during the whole ordeal. I did feel a little light headed after it was over and Pat drove home. I ate a big dinner and am feeling a little weak but am certainly not debilitated by it all
I received a prescription for another drug that I will be taking in a few moments. It is supposed to make my saliva glands produce more saliva. I will supposedly lose one saliva gland permanently and the other will be damaged but will probably come back to some degree. Hopefully this drug will forestall the loss. I have to take this medicine every eight hours faithfully for it to stand a chance of working adequately. One side effect could be severe sweating. I will have to decide if it is worth it.
I have two more prescriptions for nausea that I will be taking over the next three days and then I should be mostly through the severe nausea period.
All in all it wasn’t a bad day. I received several calls from friends and family members tonight. I can’t tell people enough how Pat and I appreciate those calls. They surely brighten up a day when we may tend to get to much into ourselves.
Live in the day! Better yet live in the moment. It is truly the only time that we have. Tomorrow we will deal with tomorrow! As we say in AA, “One day at a time.”