Well, "day 1" is now in the books. Off we went with bags full of "toys:" books, books on tape, Ipod, plus a blanket, since they warned that I might get chills.
Two days ago I started taking a daily allopurinol tablet. It is supposed be like a turbocharger for your kidneys and help them handle all the white blood cells that have been bulking-up my lymph nodes that are expected to come---now quite dead---pouring through the kidneys in the next couple days and weeks ahead.
First came two Tylenol tablets as a guard against fever spikes. Then they stuck the IV needle into my lower arm, and opened the faucet. First came Benedryl to guard against allergic reactions. Then they started some other preliminary stuff (I forget just what at the moment, but I know it was intended to"smooth the way" for what was to follow---Rituxan,) Rituxan is a "monoclonal antibody" made in part from mouse cells (no, I don't want to know the detail of how, either). But you can imagine that human bodies tend to reject that stuff.
Less than ten minutes into it, I did. I barfed up breakfast and V8 juice---more than you wanted to know---and then settled down to twenty minutes of chills, declining oxygen levels, and rising temperature. All pretty typical, they tell me; just quicker in my case.
The rest of the day was surprisingly uneventful, as they opened the spigots on Fludarabine and Cyclophosphamide, the ones that are really considered more damagaing to one's immune system and render one's head quite bald. I wasn't done until 4:30, after starting at 8:30. Long day.
The nurses said I might experience fever in the night, but I didn't.
The only weird "hangover" is that my lungs hurt a bit when I inhale. At about 2:00 a.m. I strapped on my "Top Gun" fighter pilot's air mask for my CPAP machine (which I do many nights to try to sleep), and by 4:00 a.m. my lungs felt not right. Some combination of that air pressure, the treatments, and/or maybe the throwing-up affected my lungs. I could see where V8 going down the wrong pipe could do that to you.
Today should be a lot easier: in by 2:00 and out by 4:00, and no Rituxan. Same thing tomorrow, then 28 days "off."
So, there you have it. So far, so good. Not fun, but odds are that the end result will put me in a better situation than I have been just lately. I hope these lungs clear up quickly.
You know what the toughest part has been? Water. "Drink more water, drink more water," Nancy keeps saying, quoting all the advisory sheets. I know she is right, but how do people do that and get anything else done? Three quarts a day? Geesh, there is no room left for food. I keep trying!
Thanks for all the kind words of support and encouragement. I hear them and appreciate them.
