Anna completed her first round of Chemo on Friday. It went surprisingly well. After the installation of the port, a blood draw, and a meeting with Dr. Kaplan, we made our way to the chemotherapy area of the Arnold Pavilion in Swedish First Hill. We were met by yet another very nice staff of doctors and nurses. They put us in a private room and began the process. Anna received her first dose of each of the four drugs in the cocktail along with a cadre of anti nausea medications. All of it was administered via IV pump and through the port in her chest.
This amazing smile keeps all the folks around us smiling back.
That red stuff is one of the drugs in the ABVD cocktail. The red is a vegetable dye used to track its movement.
The chemo segment of the treatment lasted about 3 hours including an education on the process from a very kind nurse named Jenny. We learned a LOT about what this treatment will look like.
- We will have the same treatment every 2 weeks for 24 weeks
- The treatment will be the same each time, 2-3 hours
- The cocktail will remain constant
- The side effects will probably increase until the 3rd or 4th treatment before leveling off
- Fatigue and nausea are going to be the two most constant side effects
- Anna will probably lose her hair in 10-14 days.
- There will be a Pet CT scan after 4 treatments (8 weeks) to determine effectiveness of the treatment
Anna did really well with the administration of the treatment. Good spirits and lots of smiles the whole time. She indicated that during the process she felt mostly tired but not sick and it wasn't unbearable. She is tougher than the average bear, so I don't know what it would feel like for an average human...
The last two days have gone well. Anna is spending time recovering and so far the effects are being mitigated by the medication pretty well. We have to give her an injection each day for seven days of a medication to increase blood cell production that makes her bones ache. The port area is sore from the surgery and nausea is omnipresent. Chemo is hard, but as I said, Anna is strong and handling it really well. One amazing lady.
We have had visits from some friends and lots of support from everyone. All of this makes this so much easier for us. Thank you.