Iowa City Hospital - Outpatient #1 - Chemo Round #2 - October 26

Monday morning the 26th we had to be at the hospital by 7:30 AM to be ready for chemo by 8 AM. That was rough for me, because I have normally been sleeping until after 9 AM. As it turned out, and as is often the case, I did not even get my vitals checked until after 8 AM. It seems that this was most likely because it was my first outpatient chemo treatment, but any other explanation would be just as valid.

The first step was checking my vitals and getting some blood work done. All my vitals were good and later my blood work came back normal as well. One concern was my weight - 153 pounds. That is nearly 20 pounds less than I was in July. Quite honestly, I am nothing but skin and bones, which is why I am trying to focus on my eating. It is not easy! (Sorry, but we forgot to take a picture!!)

Outpatient chemo is easier than inpatient chemo. Inpatient is 4-5 days which includes 88 hours for just one chemotherapy. Because my cancer does not have the "bad" genes in it, I do not need the more intensive chemo. For me, outpatient chemo is just one day. They start out with some pills, then give me a series of different drugs intravenously - some are as small as a shot, others take just 5-10 minutes, and the long one, which takes several hours and also causes baldness.

After the last IV finished, they put a device (Neulasta On Body) on my stomach that was supposed to deliver a shot to boost my white blood cell count early Tuesday evening. (Unfortunately, the device malfunctioned, and we had to go to the hospital on Wednesday morning to receive the shot manually.)

We then picked up some prescriptions from the pharmacy and headed home.

The big question in both of our minds is, "Will I be able to stay healthy and out of the hospital after this round of chemo?"