I was very uncomfortable by bedtime, as the meds had warn off.  Between the insults to my skin and the discomfort of the bandages (making it really hard for me to turn my neck), I slept poorly.  I was exhausted when I woke up, and very nervous.

I had almost no breakfast.  I spent some time doing the sort of thing I can do by telecommuting (and that doesn’t demand a great deal of focus).  And then  it was time to go to the hospital for my 10:30 appointment.  I should mention that I was still pretty uncomfortable when I woke up, but as the morning progressed, any soreness from the surgical processes just evaporated, leaving only the nasty bandages to annoy me.  That was a huge help.

Things went smoothly enough at the hospital.  I signed in, they took vitals, and had us wait for a bit in reception.  Then they took us to the infusion waiting area, and called me over from there.  I think it was about eleven when they actually had me in a chair, removed the pressure bandage from the port, and had me hooked up to the drip.

A lot of the staff had information for me.  First was the nurse in the infusion section, who gave me information about the drug, about cancer, about diets for cancer patients, and so on.  She said that my infusion would be short– about half an hour– but that I’d have so much information to digest that the communications would take longer than the actual treatment.  She asked if I wanted to speak to the social worker (yes) and the dietician (yes), and they came along in turn with pamphlets and suggestions and information.  One helpful item:  Because I’m getting chemo in the hospital, it’s covered by Medicare Part B rather than Part D.  So we’ll find out what this is going to amount to.

The dietitian had some very good ideas and suggestions for consuming more protein.  At the moment, I’m not having trouble with fats, but that may come, in which case I’ll have to exchange my cheese, ice cream, and avocado for leaner alternatives.

The timer on the drip went down to ten minutes remaining, and then, suddenly, back up to 33.  Apparently, something got kinked up and the drip didn’t flow smoothly.  So we were there for another half hour.

There is more, and if I decide any of it is worth adding I’ll come back and edit this, but I doubt it.  We stopped off to make specific appointments for my next two treatments, next Friday and the Friday following, and came home.

I checked in online very briefly, but I spent most of the afternoon asleep.  I hope that doesn’t mean I won’t sleep tonight.