Finally, my first chemo: Feb. 11

It was 3 pm when the nurse went to my room and told me that she was taking me down to have my first local chemo. I had just told Doug to go to the gym since I did not think anything would happen today.

I dutifully followed the nurse and began praying. I was thankful for the Lord's presence. I was immediately attended to. After local anesthesia on my leg they inserted a tube into my artery. With the help of a machine, the doctor tried to locate the network of blood vessels that was feeding the tumors. He then followed this network with a tube through which the chemo drug would be injected.

A few minutes after injecting, I realized that I had some difficult in breathing. The doctor immediately noticed my reaction and I was so glad that nothing was lost in the translation when I told them how I felt! The nurse immediately gave me an oxygen tube and another doctor checked on my heart rate. Thanks to my lamaze training, instead of panicking, I took deep breaths until my heart beat normalized.

The procedure lasted about 40 minutes and then I was wheeled back to my room. Right after, I was then infused one after another with ivies to protect my heart, liver, stomach, reduce the side effects, etc. I found it ironic that after putting toxic drugs in my body to kill the cancer, they now have to make sure the rest of my body is protected! I thought that there must be a more logical way to deal with cancer in the future!

I was advised by the doctor not to move my leg which still had the tube in my artery. I was also advised to drink as much water as I can so that I will not suffer too much the side effects of the chemo drug. In order to do this, I had the distinct privilege of learning how to use a bed pan!

The sensation of peeing in a bed pan is like no other. When you are used to the toilet, you know that gravity will let your urine flow down. When you use a bed pan, you feel like gravity has played a trick on you and instead of flowing down, your urine flows all the way to your back before making a u-turn back to the pan! I never got used to that feeling even if I had to use it several times!

One thing I learned, never measure your husband's love using a bed pan! "I have proven my love to you in many ways," said Doug, "This doesn't count." So don't take it personally if he refuses to wake up in the middle of the night so that you can use the bed pan. Men are not genetically wired to do things like that (just like they don't hear the baby cry at night!). Thank goodness they have nurses here who answer every beep you send to their station.