And so it begins

It has begun. Today was another long day - what was to be about a half day turned into a full day for various reasons. I arrived about 8:30 for bloodwork, which went rather smoothly, then down to the opposite end of the DHMC complex for my central venous line to be surgically placed. This went pretty quickly, too, but then the blood work results came back showing continued low WBC counts, so another bone marrow biopsy was ordered, and I was fit in to the schedule there. Even then, I was out of recovery and ready to go down to the HSCU to get my first chemo treatment, which I had been told would be about 30-45 minutes. After finally getting my first food of the day around 2pm, we waited until almost 3:30pm to get the chemo, as they said they had to weigh me again in order to properly dose the chemo, the pharmacy had to mix it, check it, and then transport it down to the floor, so it didn't actually finish infusing until about 4:15pm, and we were able to leave about 4:30.

Tomorrow, we'll head up there around 10am, as a storm is coming through, and they said I can show up as early as 11am for my Day 2 dose. Right now, I really don't feel any chemo effects yet - just a considerable amount of pain from the line insertion. The rubber catheter is inside my jugular vein, and tunnels under my skin along the collarbone, exiting the skin near my right armpit. There's a good bit of tugging and pulling anytime I move my head or neck, but it is less with my painkillers. Hopefully, I will continue to get used to it. That's all for now - a long day needs to end with my head hitting the pillow a bit early, I think!