Hey there. Hi there. Ho there. Today has been oodles of fun. We started with traffic being horrendous because people don’t know how to drive when that wet stuff falls from the sky. What should have been a 10 minute drive took around an hour. On the plus side, since Hubs was driving, I took a nap(ish). I had my first round of bonus chemo today. In my spine (called intrathecal). I was most nervous about the lidocaine, because I know how much that burns, but it wasn’t as bad as other experiences I’ve had with it. Next time, maybe I won’t be so anxious and sweaty (I was wringing wet from being nervous about it). But, let’s backtrack. We got here, got my port accessed, blood drawn, and walked down to IR (Interventional Radiology – I’ll explain why in a minute), saw my MIL on the way (she volunteers here), and then we waited. And waited. And waited. They were running behind.
Finally, someone came to get me from the waiting room. The tech explained the procedure to me – most of it I already knew. They do the lumbar puncture under fluoroscopy (live x-ray), so they can get the needle in the right spot. Pretty cool. First, I got swabbed with betadine. Then, two shots of lidocaine. It didn’t hurt nearly as much as I’d feared. There was some intense pressure when the doc inserted the needle for delivering the methotrexate (chemo drug), but not horrible. Then, Dr. Gimelfarb came in and administered the methotrexate. Then, I had to lie flat for an hour to avoid getting a headache from the lumbar puncture (fluid pressure). After we were done, a guy came from transport to take me back to Kellogg (the cancer center). He was quite perturbed about me being in a bed, not a wheelchair. My nurse for today (Dee) said he does tend to be bothered by unexpected changes. I’m guessing he’s on the spectrum.
Hubs and I are going to watch some OITNB, so I’ll be back later with more for you.
Original Comments from the CaringBridge Blog:
Your spine? Ouch for goodness sake!
—margo barbakow, June 15, 2015
What an incredible example of Courage you are!!
—jo Wilken, June 15, 2015