Clara Jean had surgery scheduled for 8 to get her port for her chemo and then chemo after. The surgery went well. They put the port on the left side of her body, on her upper chest. It is completely covered and just looks like a bump under her skin. The port itself has a tube that is connected to a vein.
We opted for CJ to have the medicine before the surgery that would calm her down a little. Last time she didn't have it, and she wasn't scared, until after the surgery when she was telling me about how the gas made her feel. So, this time, since she knew what was coming, we thought that the medicine was a good idea. It made her a little loopy and then after the surgery she didn't remember anything. Actually, when she woke up the first thing that she said was, "where am I?" She told us that she didn't even remember rolling down the hallway.
The doctor explained to us that she had two small incisions. One where the put the tube through and one where they put the port in. He also said that they left it "exposed" for the treatment that she was going to have afterward. This means that the port had been accessed during her surgery, the needle was in it and a tube was hanging from it.
Recovery went well. She watched tv and drank some Sprite. Then she had a frozen coke. After we were sure that she felt well and wasn't sick to her stomach, we discharged from there and rolled her upstairs in a wheelchair to oncology. The nurse that called us back had to weigh and measure Clara. When she stood up from the wheelchair she was dizzy and started to get upset. Next thing we knew she was throwing up. Luckily she only threw up the one time and the put us in a small room with a bed for her.
Dr. Whitlock came in and we talked about the plan and the meds she would be taking. Six months of chemo, once a week for six weeks, then every third week after that. She also has to take a steroid, twice a day for four weeks and then tapering off the last two weeks. And an antibiotic two days a week to hopefully keep her from catching an infection. When the six weeks is over she will take 5 days worth of the steroid, the week that she has the chemo. Dr. Whitlock explained the possible side effects and told us which ones that are most likely to occur. Tiredness, wakefulness, irritability, weight gain, minimal hair loss.
The nurse came in and drew blood, so they would have base line counts on CJ. Then came back with three syringes. One with the vinblastine, the chemo drug. One with a medicine that keeps it from clotting and one with saline to flush it threw. That was it. Not too bad, at least the process won't be too hard. I think that it will be the side effects that will be harder to deal with.
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