Love 4 Lee

Yesterday Mom had her 3rd round of Chemo. I am still fighting this crappy cold so unfortunately I couldn’t be with them for this round. She was happy to be at her new infusion center in Altamonte Springs which is right down the road from where they live. It’s a closer, smaller, newer facility compared to downtown.

Initially, they contemplated not doing the treatment due to really low White Blood Cell count. Here’s a little medical lesson for you… White Blood Cells are needed to fight infections. Chemotherapy tends to lower your cell count (along with 100 other things). If the count is too low typically it puts you at high risk for other illnesses making someone like me with the common cold a very big risk to her fragile health.  The Dr. decided to move forward with the treatment yesterday and she’s receiving 2 injections geared towards improving her levels.

So far she is at home resting and getting ready to spend the next few days feeling the effects of it all. She has to remain at home, away from any public areas until this improves.

Mom had her 2nd round of Chemo yesterday. She had to wait several hours at the infusion center to even start. I learned they have to mix the drugs at the facility and for whatever reason they had issues delaying her from starting until 12:30.

My dad and I sat with her and she was in good spirits. She did have another reaction to the first dose of Chemo just like last time and they were able to quickly get it under control despite giving her a dose of Benadryl at the very beginning.

For those that are not aware, Chemo takes roughly 5-7 hours to administer. People have to sit in a recliner in a little cubby in a room with 5 other patients all going through their own battle. It’s loud, the room is cold and delays happen frequently. In my mom’s case once she’s done sitting there all day she has to be fitted with a pump that sends even more Chemo into her body non-stop for 2 days. She has to go home with this device and return later to have it removed. It is that Chemo (called 5FU) that is giving her some of the worst symptoms.

As I sat there the second time watching everyone go through this pain I am so grateful to have my health.  Do not take life granted and certainly do not dwell on the little things that are usually not worth your time or aggravation.

Last week was the first round of chemotherapy. Mom and dad arrived at the downtown Orlando infusion center early on 4/13/17. When I arrived 2 hours later they were just starting the first ‘cocktail’.

Everything was going well until the second set and she had an allergic reaction. The nurses stopped the meds for about 25 minutes while they administered Benadryl. It was a little scare, but she was back at it for several more hours.

She left that evening with a portable pump (called 5FU fitting words..) that pumped even more chemo for 2 days straight.