The end of the first cycle

During the past twelve days Gennie has been stuck in the belly fourteen times with Vidaza, endured two Neupogen shots in the arm, had a CBC (complete blood count) done and took a trip to MCV to have a Vortex port Implanted in her chest. Other than that things have been quite normal for the two of us. The first day of the Vidaza shots she was to be given nausea medication done through an IV. The nurse did not read that on the chart and it did not happen. The result was a very difficult night for Gennie. She was given two prescriptions of meds she could take for the nausea if it occurred. That was pretty funny when the most common side effect of Vidaza is major nausea. Well I was able to get one of the prescriptions filled that first day and it did nothing. The next day when she went in for her second set of shots they gave her an IV of fluid and we were also able to get the better medicine filled. That night she did much better. As the series went on she did better with the treatment thanks to the regiment of meds they gave her to combat the nausea. Every other day they would give her another medicine via IV to help also. Every Monday they are checking her CBC and last Monday her counts looked pretty good. She finished her Vidaza shots on Tuesday and then started her Neupogen shots. These are intended to increase her production of white blood cells. Today she had the last of those shots for this cycle.

Yesterday we went to MCV to get her Vortex port installed in her chest. She will need this port when she has her marrow transplant. We asked if they could install it now and begin using it for her Vidaza treatment. They all agreed and now she will not have to get all those shots in the belly. The port is pretty amazing. It is much bigger than I expected. It is about 1 1/2" long by 3/4" wide and 1/4" deep. It is a double port that the doctor ordered. She has an IV tube buried under her skin connecting to it and her carodid artery near her heart. They will use these ports for everything from taking blood samples to injection her Vidaza shots to blood transfusions to the actual infusion of her new blood stem cells. Pretty amazing port.

As for how Gennie has been feeling during all of this well she is doing OK. She is not eating much because of the nausea and nothing taste quite right to her. I worry about this some because of how small she is. She has lost about 5 1/2 pounds already and that brings her to 95 1/2 pounds. She is trying to eat but not doing real well with it. I will keep after her. She made the comment today that she hates feeling bad. I just try to tell her it is going to be OK and she now has a few weeks to recover before starting the next series.

As for my new jobs around here they involve getting intimately aware of just how much laundry two people can go through. So far I don't think I have ruined anything yet. The other day I did all the bathrooms and vacuumed the entire house. I fully expect some nice aprons and stuff for Christmas from all you sympathetic types out there. During all of this we are also still closing out our business. I was able to sell two trucks the other day. A few more to go. I have contacted an agent to see about renting our commercial property. I hope he can find someone soon. My most important job is to keep Gennie upbeat. She is doing really well with all of this and I expect she will continue to. She does miss seeing all her friends. Keep in mind she is not sick and would love to see some of you. If you are not sick come on over and visit.

Well that's it for now. Thanks for the interest. I will post again when we start round two!!!!

Interesting first day

I would have titled this "Difficult First Day" but Gennie will see the title on Facebook. Around three PM yesterday, about an hour after Gennie received two long needles to her belly (this is how Vidaza is administered) all the difficulties she had in 1997 with chemo came rushing back.  She has 100mg of Vidaza injected her belly area using two long menacing needles. The nurse said this is the area of the body with most fat. I sort of laughed and wondered if she had ever seen Gennie's belly.  They called in two perscriptions for nausea but we will have to wait for approval for one of them. I picked up the one the insurance company will allow her to have. The top side effect of this type of chemo is nausea. Well, Gennie confirmed that. From 3PM until 10PM Gennie was hugging a trash can. It was awful for her. On her own she called the "on call" doctor. It took him about two hours to respond. He told her to take more medicine. She had already taken the full dosage. I knew at this point she was seriously ill. She has never called a doctor without being hounded to do so. She finally got to sleep in her recliner around 11PM. This morning at 8AM she has already called the office to make them aware of the problem. She simply stated she will not go through that again today. Hopefully they will address this problem before her next two shots today at 1:30PM.
My job through all of this was pretty simple. Keep the dog from making it worse and keep emptying the trash can.  Today I have decided to stay with her and take her to the clinic later for her next shots. We both thought that after it went well yesterday she would be fine to go on her own. Not so fast. If they want her to take her meds before the shots she will not be able to drive. No big deal just a modification to plans.
Well that is the update from Day 1. Hopefully the clinic is used to this and has a fix for Gennie. If not it is going to be a long arduous road she has to walk.

And so it begins

Went to see Miriam today at VOA.  As we suspected Gennie's counts are very low. She is neutropenic. She will have a transfusion next Tuesday. My part in this is to play golf. Thankfully the doctor has agreed that Gennie should go on our planned vacation to Crisfield MD this weekend. We are both looking forward to it as it may be the last trip for quite some time. She will be wearing her mask most of the time.

Gennie is scheduled to start her Vidaza treatments on September 12th.

That's it for now. Hope everyone has a great Labor Day weekend.