This Ain't No Party

Up at 7am so that I can make it to the Pharmacy right at 8 to pick up my Emend, the anti-emetic (anti nausea) pill that I have to take 1 hour before the first day of chemo in each round, and then once a day for the next 2 days.

While showering, noticed the first of the hair loss. It's slight, but I've been keeping a close eye on it since I started chemo 3 weeks ago, and this was the first day of hair loss. Likely will shave head this week. Another reminder that this is some serious sh*t: I've been feeling so good recently that its easy to forget that I'm doing Chemo.

Speaking of which, off to chemo on a few minutes. This is the long treatment that will take 4 or 5 hours hooked up to an IV. My mom will be there as well. The treatment itself isn't all that bad, and they actually make the patients very comfortable while there, with flatscreen HD tvs, leather vibrating heated la-z-boys, juice on demand, etc. And so far everyone at the clinic has been extremely, hugely kind, and the nurses and docs are very knowledgeable, experienced, and genuinely caring. It's a certain kind of person that goes into Oncology, since one has to be aware that patients are very sick and may not get ever get better, but so far I'm feeling it's the cream of the crop. It doesn't have a sad hospice feel, which is what I would have expected. Instead, the nurses feel more like awesome flight attendants (of which there are none in the real world) if that makes any sense: good natured, even jovial, anticipating all of your needs, answering all of your questions, tailoring the experience to fit your situation and checking in on you constantly.