Back to the clinic today for another injection, my blood counts were surprising very good.
| WBC | 5.4 | Up |
| Grans | 4.8 | Up |
| Hemoglobin | 14.6 | Up |
| Platelets | 160 | Down |
All numbers are up since I started treatment except for Platelets.
Treatment Explained
I thought I would describe my treatment to give everybody a better understanding of the treatment. The doctor does not call it chemo, but the nurses do. I have two drugs injected, one is for anti-nausea and the other is a drug called Valcade (Bortezomib). Valcade is a targeted therapy, it prevents cancer cells from dividing, prevents new cancer cells from forming and causes cancer cells to die. Not all people respond to Valcade. Valcade does all this with minimal disruption to normal cells. So no hair loss (but the will happen with the Stem Cell Transplant along with many other side affects), really haven't had any side affects from this medication. The most common side affect is neuroupathy, which I have not experienced either (I hope I didn't jinx myself).
I arrive at the clinic at 1:05 (5 minutes late on purpose to let the waiting room clear out for the 1:00 appointments, otherwise it is standing room only). The clinic and the doctors office is the same place. I then wait in the waiting room for 5-10 minutes and then I am called back to the chemo area. In this area there are about 10 reclining chairs, some patients receiving treatment have a slow drip IV and have to spend 3-4 or more hours getting treatment. My treatment is as follows:
- First I get a stick in the arm and they draw blood for a CBC and sometimes another vial of blood is drawn for a INR test.
- Next saline solution is injected into my vein.
- Then I wait while they run the CBC, if the numbers are too low then they have to find the doctor to decide if treatment is to be given, I only had this problem during cycle 1. The CBC takes takes the most time of the treatment.
- Vitals are checked next, blood pressure, temperature and oxygen level.
- Finally the medications are administered. They use the same stick used for blood draw and clip in the anti-nausea medication, next a little more saline then the Valcade and a little more saline. Takes no more than 5 minutes.
- That is it, the treatment is done.
All this takes about 30 minutes, depending how busy the nurses are. It is really not that bad, not worse than a blood draw, unless...keep reading.
Today's Visit
Today's visit was a little different. First the blood draw was slow, then the injection of the saline started to hurt, I noticed the nurse was having a hard time injecting the saline. I looked down and my arm had a lump where the needle was. I brought this to the nurses attention and she stopped the saline injection and pulled the needle out. This was really uncomfortable for about 5 minutes. The nurse then stuck another vein to inject the medications and all went well. I am assuming the nurse did not pierce the vein completely the first time and the saline was going under my skin instead of into the vein. Anyway all is back to normal now.
Last Thursday's Visit
Last Thursday's visit was a little uncomfortable also the nurse stuck a vein in my forearm instead of the elbow. This caused a little lump for a couple days and a connecting vein turned red. Then a two inch by one inch bruise formed. Looks like Jane has been beating me, though you know that is far from truth.
There are three nurses in the chemo unit, I am starting to pick favorites.
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