What Happens At Chemo Doesn't Stay At Chemo

This isn't Las Vegas, folks, it's Cancerland! And I've been wanting to share with you what exactly goes on at chemo. Unfortunately for my viewers at home, I usually go to chemo alone, so there's nobody to take pictures of the whole process. Because I was nervous and scared to start my new drugs, and also because I knew I wouldn't be getting my sleepytime Benadryl, my sister came with me on Tuesday to keep me company, calm my nerves, and fight off boredom. She also volunteered to be my documentary photographer for this post!

So here's what happens, if you ever wondered...

WARNING: I look like a "sick person" in this post. I didn't really know how I looked until I saw these photos! I think it's partially the hat... and being hooked up to machines doesn't help, either...

What Happens at Chemo...

Here we are, getting ready for chemo. Each time I go, I get my little table ready with all my crap, including water, juice, snacks, my phone, Gameboy, etc. I also get my blankets ready, take off my shoes, remove my jacket and get my prayer shawl (thanks Auntie Alice!) around me so I don't get cold.

Usually someone takes my vitals first (temperature, blood pressure and oxygenation), but this time we got right to the bloodwork and my vitals were taken later. Here, my favorite nurse, Nurse K., is rubbing some sort of sterilizer stuff all over my arm where my port is. This sterilizes my skin so we don't have cooties all over. It feels cold and smells like rubbing alcohol...

Once my arm is cleaned, Nurse K. finds my port with her fingers. She then puts the needle (eek!) right into my port. It doesn't hurt, though, because I put lidocaine on it about 45 minutes beforehand. The yellow thing in the picture is sort of like a handle on the needle.

Then Nurse K. tapes down the needle and tubes so that they don't get caught on things or torn out of my arm (ouch, that would seriously hurt!). Before, they weren't taped this securely because usually the needle came out at the end of chemo. But with the new drugs, I get hydration (saline) the next day, so I kept the needle in my arm overnight to avoid getting poked again.

Once everything is taped down, Nurse K. pushes a syringe of saline into my port. This clears it out, flushing crud out of the way. Then she pulls blood right from the same port, proving the the passageway is clear. My blood will be tested after this to make sure my white counts, red counts and platelets are high enough to receieve chemotherapy. You can tell it's working cuz you can see my blood! EWWW!

Nurse K. pulls two (I think) syringes of blood from my port. Don't worry; I can't feel any of it. Then the blood gets transferred into three separate vaccuum vials to be tested.

Here I am, all hooked up and waiting for my blood test results!

Me again, attached to many things. On the left, there's a machine taking my blood pressure. On my finger on the right side (my left finger though), is a sensor taking my blood oxygenation. (All that usually happens very first, but it doesn't really matter when...) And on the right, there's Nurse K. messing with some tubes of stuff going in my veins.

We got my blood test results back, and though my white blood cell (especially my granulocytes, the WBCs that fight infection) and red blood cell counts were a little low, I was still OK to get chemo. With the new chemo drugs, I take a special anti-nausea medicine called Emend. This is my Emend pill, which I got the clearance to take because I was getting chemo. I take this pill after my blood tests come back OK, and before chemo goes in me. I have two other pills to take the day after, and the day after that too.

Here's a picture of my chemo meds and a pump. The pump's mechanism is still a mystery to me, but somehow that green machine controls how quickly liquid is infused (or dripped) into me. I wanted to show you the Epirubicin, which is red. It actually turns your pee red. Well, pinkish orange. I have receive lots of bags of fluids: anti-nausea medication, a steroid, three different chemo meds, and saline hydration.

Me, hanging out, gettin' chemo, like I do...

Here's my arm, after I was all done infusing chemo into me. When all those meds were in me, Nurse K. flushed my port again with saline and then put heparin, an anti-coagulant, in my port to keep blood cells from sticking to my port. After that, my arm was all packed up so that they needle could stay in my arm, allowing us to avoid re-accessing it again the next day. We're done, let's go!

I hope you enjoyed our educational segment on CarrieHatesCancer today. Please stay tuned, and as always, thanks you for your support!