Today, February 28th, was a long day in treatment! We had a 7:45 AM start and left close to 7:00 PM. After getting my vitals and placing me in my treatment room, the nurse immediately started my IV fluids and my premedications. I received 5 liters plus an additional liter that my chemo came mixed in. That’s right, 6 liters over a 10 hour day!! I struggle drinking over 4 cups on a given day, yet alone 6 L! This will make for an interesting night 😳.
The chemo Cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan) can be damaging to the bladder, so in order to prevent any damage they load you up on fluids. In addition, they also administer a drug called Mesna, which helps line the bladder to protect it. This is given several times throughout the day at scheduled times. All my nurse friends out there know how much we love Mesna, and how late it keeps our patients!
Word spread fast amongst my care team, that not only their patient is a nurse, she is a chemo infusion nurse! It did feel a bit strange being on the receiving end after being an infusion nurse for eight years! However, my treatment team took great care of me. Lucky for me, they use the Baxter infusion pump, and not the Alaris pump which I’m familiar with, so I did not have to worry about tampering with any buttons 🤪.
The day passed a lot quicker than expected. I spent most my time, answering texts and playing on my phone. I did have a bit of a revolving door between my stem cell coordinator, NP, and social worker checking up on me. As well as the constant nurses coming in to switch over my infusion bags.
After Cytoxan priming day, I will begin daily, Neupogen injections, which will help further stimulate my counts. I will do this until my stem cell collection day, God willing, on March 11th! I will also be going in to the clinic for daily lab draws, if any of my numbers are wacky, it may need replaced with either fluids, electrolytes, and maybe even a transfusion. Hoping my body cooperates and there will be no surprises!
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