LOCATION: Vanderbilt Univeristy Hospital - Stem Cell Unit
DATE: 8.9.12 DAY: -5
MOOD: Good spirits, calm, cool, and collected.
MENTAL STATE: clear headed
PHYSICAL STATE: Dull headache all day, probably due to lack of sleep the night before.
My parents came with me for my admittance to the hospital today and at 11:30 I was shown to my room. Met and became acquianted with the nurses and doctors on-call for about an hour then was given permission to grab some lunch in the hospital cafeteria. Returned to my room around 3:30, sent my parents back to the apartment to check on my dogs, and then settled in to work for a few hours on a laptop.
Showered around 5:00p and made a point to wash my hair. The next several days have the potential to really take the strength out of you and simply bathing can be a chore. Start your chemo off right by having a clean head of hair that will last until you feel well/strong enough to wash it again. I also had to cover the bandage from my port insertion in hopes of not getting it wet. The nurse provided a square piece plastic rimmed in tape to affix to my chest. It was awkward and difficult to navigate the shower through the soreness from the surgery, water running everywhere water tends to run, and trying to clean my hair. That fifteen minute shower wore me out.
Fluids to get me hydrated started around 6:00p and premeds for the chemo started around 9:45. I was told that once they hooked me up to the IV stand I would stay connected, so I'm learning to walk around with an IV stand and several feet of IV tubing. They threaded the tubing up my shirt so it hangs down the front of me. Inconvenient, yes, but not as bad as I expected it to be. Closing the laptop around 10:15, I started chemo for the night with a 2 hour dose of Cytoxan. It started around 10:30pm and ended around 12:30a.
Overall, the first day was uneventful and was exactly what I suspected. Meet and greet, fluids, premeds, and chemo.
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