Waiting for Chemo......

February 6th, 2013

Cindy:

It had been almost 6 weeks since mom had been diagnosed and we had been patiently waiting to start chemo. Every minute feeling like an hour while every hour felt like a day.

Amazingly enough their is sometimes a lot of red tape to get through before you can even get chemo. although it can make the difference between life and death, Insurance still has to approve it , you have to wait for a pump, lab results... it seemed endless. But today was finally the day they were going to give her the poison that would begin to kill the cancer.  The poison's name "Folfox" it was made up of three major ingredients 5fu, Leucovorin, and Oxaliplatin. Before the chemotherapy she was given Aloxi for nausea through her central line to keep her from vommitting.

After the Aloxi she was given decadron(steroid) and then a drip of Leucovorin  and an infusion of oxaliplatin. These are given at the same time and take about two hours.

When those were done she was given an injection of 5FU into her port line followed by an infusion of 5FU over 46 hours. This part of the treatment was given over 46hrs through a small portable pump she was able to take home with her and would have to remember to bring back each and every time she received chemo. The pump is used to give a controlled amount of the drug into your bloodstream over a set period of time. On the third day the home nurse arrived just as it began beeping and removed the bag which only weighed about 2-3lbs, but after 3 days seemed to be weighing my mother down. And that's how mom's chemo that doctors said would likely be indefinite, began.....