Sue’s first cycle of chemotherapy is done. It was on Friday 9/21, started at 9:00AM and ended a little after 3:00PM. Yup it’s scheduled to be 6 hours long. Why so long? Here is the series of medications she received:

• Normal saline ran all day. We are told she needs to keep hydrated to keep the toxins flushing.
• Two antiemetic drugs. They are tasked with keeping the nausea and vomiting at bay.
• The first chemotherapy drug was Adriamycin. An IV fluid that is actually red (scary from the start) it turns your urine red (quite quickly) and must be monitored by the IV nurse to make sure it is only going into your vein. It is very caustic and can cause serious tissue damage if it infiltrates your skin. The IV nurse actually sits there monitoring it and occasionally drawing back on the IV to make sure blood returns in the tube which is a positive indication it’s still in the vein.
• The next chemotherapy drug was the cyclophosphamide. No special precautions except to run it slowly in steps to make sure there are no allergic reactions.
• The last chemotherapy drug was Taxotere. This is another one that must be infused slowly (it took about two hours) and can also cause anaphylaxis so it’s started real slow and increased as the cycles progress.
• Finally she had to wait for the liter (1000cc) of fluid that started at 9:00AM to finish

Almost 24 hours later she is doing fine. No vomiting, no appetite either. The biggest complaint right now is that her Diet Coke doesn’t taste the same. Dog tired would be a good estimate on how she is feeling.

The new do for the next few weeks