Dress up for chemo!

I think I was looking forward to the chemo, partly because I really want to get this over with and partly because I want to get better! And most importantly, I got a card/gift in my mailbox two weeks in a roll right before my chemo. I think my army of fighters at work are also looking forward to seeing me going back to the battle field. Chemo right now is my weapon to fight. If I could conquer each chemo, I can win this war! Big thanks to my supporters! Your words of encouragement, prayers, flowers, cards, gifts, the delicious food are all transformed into some forms of weapons that give me strength for the fight!

So I dressed up for my third chem today. I did not give much thought about it actually. I simply unconsciously dressed up- not much on the clothese, but somehow it must showed on my face. When the nurse called me in, she stopped and gave me a second look and said "Wow! It is so nice to see someone dressed up for chemo! Thank you so much!". I was like "Wow! I did not think anyone would notice. I guess I will dress up for every chemo from now on!".

This photo does not show my high heel sandals and pendicured toe nails:) -
something I can't wear to work because my job as a chemist requires me to wear toe and heel covered shoes and long pants

Mayo Clinic does 120 to 150 chemos a day. I shared a room with five other patients- young, old, male and female. We all have our own comfy chairs. We all on our own course and schedule. So we don't have the same six people in the room at all times. The ones finished would leave and be replaced with new ones. It was a quite busy operation. If we choose, we could have our own TV monitor to watch TV. Volunteers come and go to bring free food and drinks. We all have one compaion, either a spouse, child, parent or friend. Toby was with me today because Bert had to take Anna to State Swim Championship Meet in Saginaw. Two nurses took care of us.

All the people in the room were very quiet when I walked in. Most don't have hair, wearing either nothing or scarves. Somehow the conversations I had with the nurse gave me a very good mood. So I was walking in with full head of "hair" and a big smile on my face. I did not feel I did not fit in. On the contrary, I felt I am just one of them. "Good morning, everyone!" I said in my heart quietly without wanting to disturb the quietness, but I think it showed on my face. Suddenly the old man on my left and his wife and a man of my age on my right and his daughter smiled to me. "It is a good day to have chemo today." I said referring to the beautiful weather outside. They all agreed and we talked about weather for a while. We all sensitive enough not to touch the topic why we were there, not need too. But I did learn this was the last chemo from the man on my right. We talked and joked about graduation pin and whined a little that there was no red carpet or ringing bells for end of chemo celebration at this center. I was happy to see and know these people don't want to be sad or quiet. They just follow the flow. They want to make this a happy experience too.

In order for the two nurses in the room to take care all six patients, all of our machines have beeps if something is not right or need attention. If the two nurses are busy, other nurses in the area will come. The beep never had to sound more than a second before someone showed up to help. The only problem is that all the beeps are the same tone/sound. It is hard for the patients to know if the beeps are from their own machine or others. I think I should patent different tone/sounds for these machines. I could make some money and make these chemo patients to have their own tons uploaded from their favor songs or pets. As silly as I am as you all know, I could not stop joking about this. I called these beeps "music in our ears" - "here comes the music in our ears again, whose is it?" I started a guessing game. At least the two men on each side of me laughed and participated. Nurses were smiling too!

I got the most beeps today. Somehow, my pump kept stopping. When it stopped and beeped, it hurt. A lady in her last phase of chemo replaced the man on my left told me she had same problems with Taxol too. But we still managed to finished all may the chemo in two hours!

Blood work before the chemo was still good. I started to eat more red meat to boost my red blood cells. I think it worked. My red blood cell goes back up. My white blood counts continue going down but sll is expected.