Chemotherapy - Day 2

I want to start off by thanking everyone for the comments and messages I got in regards to my first post about chemotherapy. I will try to answer any questions from yesterday at the end of the post, unless I can find a way to incorporate it into the blog itself.

08.04.09: Chemotherapy - Day Two

Today was a little longer than yesterday, but not too bad. The medicine I am taking this week is called cisplatin, and I was also given my Tuesday medicine, bleomycin. I will be taking the cisplatin every day this week, and bleomycin every Tuesday until the 29th of September.

When I got to the office this morning (Jackie: I'm going to the Family Cancer Center in Bartlett, TN, next to the St. Francis Hospital), there was one older couple sitting across the room. My nurse from yesterday was tending to them, so I got the cute blonde nurse this time. I spent the entire morning hitting on her. She was all about it, ha.

We had a lot to talk about. She's from Dyersburg, TN, and I just spent two months working in that area. I told her about how crazy her neighbors are, and didn't flinch when she had to draw blood from a second vein (the first one was no good).

Later on when more people started coming in and I was no longer the center of attention, I got back to reading my book again. I'm still reading "A Lesson Before Dying;" it is set in 1940s Louisiana, about a teacher visiting and teaching a wrongfully-accused death-row inmate. I have also been listening to chapters out of the audiobook "A Sacred Sorrow," given to me by my friend Nathan Henton.

An old man came in and sat in a chair right in front of the TV. I thought we would be watching the news all morning, which would be fine with me, but he flipped through the channels until he stopped on the Fresh Prince. I'm wondering if he did that for me or if he just likes the show; either way, I thought it was funny that he was getting into it. This was a serious episode, though; it was the one where will got shot at an ATM moving Carlton out of the way, and Carlton got upset and bought a gun. Kinda reminded me of a condensed version of Boyz N Da Hood, and Will's girlfriend was the same actress that played Tre's girlfriend in that movie. Coincidence?

I got phone calls from my grandmother and Gary Stanton, but I didn't take either because the lady beside me was trying to sleep. I called them back later on, and Gary says he is coming to see me Thursday, which will be cool.

Before long, all of the other recliners in the office were filled with senior citizens. Apparently they all think I'm a kid because some of them were talking to me like I was ten years old. Finally, after putting in my time in the chair and having six bags full of fluids put into my body, I was done. But, before I could get unhooked from my IV and all of that, the geriatric Fresh Prince fan started having a reaction to his chemo.

I hadn't seen anything like it before, but it was pretty nerve-wracking. He started calling for the blonde nurse, Lisa. (I would have called for her, too!) Then he started panicking, saying that his eyes were burning and he couldn't breathe. As they were hooking him up to a new fluid sack to flush out some of the medicine in his arm at the time, he was just getting work. His blood pressure was dropping a lot, and he had to be hooked up to an oxygen mask. His chest was getting tight, he said, and he kept telling the nurses and the doctor that had come to his aide that he was "dying." Thankfully, that was an overreaction, but I'm sure he did feel that way from the looks of things. He was taken by EMTs to the hospital next door, and I finally got dismissed.

I didn't have to take any nausea medicine or ibuprofen today, which is good. I don't like taking medicine if I can avoid it. I did take a nap, though, which was nice.

Mike Poole came by the house around six this afternoon and I filled him in on what all I had been doing. He decided he wanted a go at my UFC game on Xbox 360. I decided to take it easy on him today since I destroyed him so badly last time. I think he's been practicing, though, because he actually beat me when I played as Brock Lesnar.

Since he left, I haven't done much else but answer some text messages and work on this as I watched TV. I think I may stay up later tonight, because tomorrow the Bartlett office is closed and I am having my chemotherapy done in Oxford starting at 10 AM. That should give me time to watch a couple episodes of Raising the Bar. I also just saw that Flight of the Conchords - Season 2 is on DVD now, so I may have to hit that up tomorrow after my treatments.

About my diet: I have had a pretty drastic diet change in the last few weeks leading up to and starting chemotherapy. Everything I am eating has been pretty nutritious (except for the fudgesicles, they just make me feel better). Mostly everything I have to eat at the house is organic, with a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables, fruit juices, and some baked meats. Nothing fried, grilled, greasy, or anything like that.

About my candor: I don't plan on holding anything back. If I get sick and feel like crap, you all will know about it.

Mr. Cook?: The receptionist didn't talk to me this morning, so no new names today. She just smiled and waved, which is probably a good idea for her.

"Benjamin Netanyahu": An inside joke with Stan, a former roommate of mine. Benjamin Netanyahu is a politician that was referenced on a stupid show we used to watch in college and somehow that name stuck with me for a little while.

Jared: I'm glad I'm finally getting you interested in reading, ha!

Faye: I don't think so. Maybe I'll put the rights to the book up in a UFC fight.

Everyone else: I love you too, and thank you for the nice comments, thoughts, prayers, and encouragement!