Monday Oct. 6th

Today was quite an eventful today. It all started with a 8:30 am appoint with my oncologist (cancer doctor) Dr. Schiff. They told about with chemo I will be getting and the side affects that each one has. Then we went to check in for surgery at 9:30. After completing check-in we sat in the surgery waiting room for about an hour then were called into the consultation room to meet with the surgeon and anesthesiologist where we sat for another 20 minutes or so. After meeting with the surgeon and anesthesiologist the nurse came and escorted me to the operating room where I laid down on the table and the anesthesiologist told me she would let me know when all the sleeping medicine was in but I passed out before that happened.

When I woke up for my deep sleep I now had a port-a-cath in the left side of my chest which is a totally under the skin and is accessed by a needle. This is used to give me the chemo and connects me to the IV pole. During the surgery I also had a bone marrow aspiration so that my bone marrow can be tested to see if there is cancer in that as well.

After I woke up they moved me to my room where I am spending the night. I had to move beds which was quite painful. At this point all I wanted to do was sleep but my many visitors who not allow me. I met my nurse Michelle and she wanted me to get out of bed so that she could get my weight and height which I kindly declined to do because of the pain I was in. She then took my vitals (blood pressure and temperature) . Then at some point in my anesthesia/morphine induced sleep I was awoken by the women doing my bone scan later in the day. She injected me with radio active stuff which will light up my bones so that they will be able to see them better and determine if there is anything wrong with them. Then at about 5:45 I woke up and was actually coherent enough to get out of bed and to do my height and weight and sign all the papers that are needed because my mom cannot sign my papers because I am over 18.

After getting more morphine I was put in a wheelchair and wheeled over to radiology where I had the bone scan which scan my whole body and takes about 30 minutes. I was then wheeled back to my room to 2 bites of pretzels, which was the first bite of food for the day and then another wheel chair arrived for me to go and have an MRI of my brain and right leg. After the hour and fifteen minute MRI I was wheeled back to my room which I ate 2 bags of pretzels, a bottle of water, red gatorade, and am now eatting some cheddar crackers with peanut butter.

So that was my day today. Very busy and jammed pack. Tomorrow I start my first of many rounds of chemo and will keep you all updated on how things go.

I will also be keeping a running total of how many times I get poked by needles, which will include shots, IV's, and have blood taken. I will also be keeping a running total of how many scans I will have.

Today's needle pokes: 2