My mother came with me to my first chemotherapy session. She mostly wanted to come for emotional support, even though she knew I was ok with the chemo. I think I was her emotional support. She also thought I would get ill immediately afterwards, which did not happen.
The room is lined with leather Lazy Boy chairs, 16 in all. They are lined up against the walls of the treatment room. I take my seat in one of the chairs, recline, and get comfortable. The nurse comes and hooks an IV to my PICC line. My mother is sitting in a small chair beside me, having coffee and snacks.
Before we begin, the nurse gives me 5 of one type of pill called _ and one pill called _. These are to prevent the side effects of the chemotherapy from becoming too severe. I take the pills with a glass of water and wait until it’s time to put the chemo cocktail into my tubes. Volunteers come by, offering us juices and snacks.
There are three different drugs that make up my first chemotherapy session. One of them is made up of two huge syringes of bright red drugs. The nurse tells me that this is the chemo drug that makes you lose your hair. It’s quite strong and designed to kill all fast acting cells. That is how it attacks the cancer. It also attacks your white blood cells, as well as your mouth lining and your hair, which are fast acting. She slowly pumps these syringes into my PICC line. It takes over half an hour to get the two syringes in.
The other two chemo drugs are in small bags that are hooked into the IV and just drip through. These get hooked up to my IV one at a time, and I sit there waiting for them to enter my system. I decide to lie back in the recliner and just nap a bit, which is hard with my mother there talking to me.
After chemo is done, we come home, and my mom decides to head back to her place for the night, since I’m not showing any signs of sickness.
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