INFUSION

Good morning! I am sitting at the Cancer Center waiting for my infusion. My first one was last Monday. I am sorry I didn't update my blog last week but it took me a week to get over the experience and I don't have internet at home and didn't feel like going out. I am hoping for a better and shorter appointment today. Last Monday I ended up being here from 8:45 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Everything started off okay, they got the I.V. hooked up, had an education session, and gave me pre-meds which consisted of some tylenol, benedryl and steroids. (I hate the steroids but they do their job and they assured me a quick short dose isn't going to do the damage that was done when I was on them for 6 months 9 years ago.) They started a very slow drip and not too far into it I suddenly felt nauseated, looked at my Mom and told her I didn't feel well. The nurse was trying to round up some nausea med from the pharmacy and when she got back I told her I wasn't doing well. Then she noticed my blood pressure had dropped to 66 over 33. That is when the fun began. The nurses were moving fast, stopped my meds, put my chair down flat, started flushing me with fluids, and got on the phone to my doctor. They were ready to 911 me to the hospital but my blood pressure slowly started upwards so they waited. My doctor explained to me that my body was rejecting the Rituxin but he felt that if we stopped for awhile, let my blood pressure get back to normal, then my body would recognize and accept the drug since it had already been introduced earlier. Eventually we nervously restarted the Rituxin and the second go at it went much better. The nurse is calling me in now but since I have my laptop with me I will try to post an update later today. Bye for now.