5 down, 1 to go 12/30/2009

As usual, the wait to see the doctor was about 35 minutes after my appointment time. My blood lab numbers are still good, so I was passed through to chemo. When the nurse inserts the needle into the port, they have to be able to know that the blood vessel that the port accesses is not scarred over, so they try to draw blood through the port. As has been my continuing problem, the nurse could not. At first, she had me stand up, and move around to try opening the vessel. No go after 4 tries. So she had to administer Cathflo, which dissolves the accumulated fibers the occlude the port. It takes 30 minutes to work, so I didn't start chemo til noon.

Here are some pictures of the chemo center. (Pictures are clickable for a larger view.) This is of my own chosen spot there-it's out of the way, away from the windows, so there's no glare on the laptop screen, and usually quiet.


This is of the nurses' station directly across from my chair.


This is of the window side of the center:


There are a total of 30 chairs there, each with its own TV, table and visitor chair.
As predicted I did "mask up" on check in to the chemo center. Pictures are too scary to post...
Ray brought flowers again today--what a peach!