Mukilteo Musings

Chemo Room Gossip

Unfortunately, on Monday, the beds were all taken and I had to get my five hours of chemo in a chair. At least it reclined but the chair rooms are only separated by curtains and the area was extremely noisy. Since my chemo seems to take longer than most people who are in the chairs, I had the chance to overhear several stories. Oh, and by the way, my nurse looked at me when we first arrived and stated, "Oh, your hair is kind of wild."

"Yes, I know. I look like Nick Nolte these days---especially in the morning." And I thought my hair looked ok!

An older woman next to me was in for pancreatic cancer which is nasty and worse than colon cancer. But here is the thing: she was going on a trip between chemos and she said the chemo did not bother her at all and she was able to eat whatever she wanted. I'm thinking, "What?" Perhaps her chemicals are different than mine. Another young woman who was there before the older woman was having trouble getting out of bed everyday because of her chemo. I did not catch what type of cancer she had. A personal trainer visited her and told her she needed to gain her strength back. She provided a whole litany of exercises for her to do and reminded her that even a 10 minute walk was better than no walk at all. I picked up some good pointers from my eavesdropping.

However, by the end of the day, the noisy place and the chair were getting to me and I began to feel nauseated. I just wanted out of there. The traveling nurse who hooks me up to my infusion pump was late on top of it all. Finally, walking outside and leaving to go home helped me feel better.

Today, I was to be unhooked from my pump and again there was a glitch in the scheduling and we had to wait an hour for the nurse to arrive at the hospital. Luckily, this time I saw no dead bodies. I do find it aggravating to have to wait to be unhooked because when it is done, I want to be free of it. The black fanny pack, containing chemicals that are saving my life, sleeps with me. goes to the bathroom with me, showers with me and eats with me for three days. It is nice to be detached from it!

Two more times. Only two more times do I have to go through all of this. I am going to make it. Two more times.


My pump and me on our way today to get unhooked!