So on April 6th this saga began and by April 13th I had started in a new world. As I look back, there were warning signs, but I just kept dismissing them. I had gotten pneumonia and bronchitis and when I coughed it felt like my ribs were broken, as I had a sharp shooting pain in the back to point I tried not to cough because of the pain. the doctor thought I might have pulled a muscle with all the coughing I was having. Sleeping at night was another challenge. I couldn't sleep on the opposite side, just too painful. So when I went in for my follow up Xray to be sure the pneumonia was gone, they found a "shadow". I have come to find out shadows are bad news because they are tumors. My blood test showed a significant anemia factor, almost off the charts. So I started doing some research and it all pointed to Mylenoma. I asked my Internist "should I be worried?" and she answered "I'm not, so you shouldn't be." When I went to the Hemotologist/Oncologist, it took her by surprise that I had not been told, but I knew anyway. I walked out in a daze, with so much information, I could hardly process anything, but "am I going to die from this?" I again went on the Internet to do more research and found some encouraging information mixed in with the not so encouraging. Guess I just need to ask more questions of the doctor.
So the following week I started chemo. What an ugly word this has become. I thought I would be laying in bed with all these IVs stuck in me, but actually it is nothing like that. the doctor had given me a whole group of scripts to have filled at the pharmacy and the regimen began on a Tuesday with some medications being given by pill and one by IV, but it was a vial (5cc) of medication. I should have been in and out in 15 minutes, but little did I know, the nurses get backed up with patients, so I waited an hour in the waiting room. All I could think was they forgot about me, so I asked the receptionist who made some excuse as to why they hadn't come to get me. The anxiety was huge, between what I didn't know to come and just the whole idea of sitting in the waiting room with other "C" patients.
the routine is really the same every time I go. I check in at the front desk, sign a paper, get an ID bracelet and wait for the blood nurse to call me. I have my blood checked every time for some specific tests. Then I wait for the IV nurse who takes me in for my IV and medication. I read during this time and then go home. Oh, I get a rose every time too!! April was the same routine every Tuesday and Friday. Easy in, easy out, but what you see in the waiting room, often is quite disturbing, so I am trying to go early morning, the patients are more like me. I must say April went OK, other than being very, very tired, I felt fine. May is another story...
