Yeah, not a glamorous facility but the doctors and nurses were super nice and super fast. I was in and out in three hours total. Their blood analysis machine (take note, Oregon Clinic) took only fifteen minutes to deliver the report showing that all my numbers are "within normal" except I'm a bit anemic ("to be expected.")Thereafter everything was routine except the surroundings. Their infusion room has the chairs surrounding a central nurses stations. There's very little natural light and not much to look at except the other patients. As usual, I was the youngest person in the room by about 50 years.
The very elderly lady to my left was obviously anxious to have people to talk to. She kept her daughter and the nurses very engaged in her recent calamities (chemo halted because of blood clot on the lung and two-week stay in hospital etc etc.) Because I am a big meany, I became totally absorbed in my book whenever she looked in my direction. The less elderly lady to my right was in chemo for the first time and, I think, her course will last a whole year. Poor thing. She was most interested in how long it took me to learn the art of turban tying (basically trial and error for the last couple of weeks.)
Top tips from Bend:
:: Keeping your mouth cold with popsicles and shaved ice while the Adriamycin is being pushed into your system may decrease the chances of mouth ulcers etc during the cycle. We'll see.
:: Taking two Prilosec per day is a) OK, by Dr Kornfeld, b) the same dosage as one Nexium and c) most importantly, will likely help curb the nightmare acid reflex situation I have on days 6 through 8.
Interesting. Might be worth getting chemo at other clinics to learn their secrets......
I'm feeling OK today (as usual on day two.) Should crash tomorrow just as we head back to PDX.
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