1 Down, 5 To Go...

Drew: 1 Chemo: 0

Well, today was my first treatment of chemotherapy, and it went a lot better than I expected ::knocks on wood::

I got to the U of M cancer center around 10:30 this morning, and after getting my labs drawn, they hooked me up to an IV through my port and got me started. Everything went really smoothly, except for a little bit of an allergic reaction to the Rhituxin (my throat started getting a little scratchy), but after a 20 minute break or so, things continued as planned. I think the highlight of my day was getting Benadryl in anticipation of possible reactions to the Rhituxin. Holy shit, that stuff knocked me on my ass. I don't know if I've ever taken Benadryl before since I've pretty much only been allowed to take Tylenol with my kidney meds, but that stuff is strong. I can see why people totally zonk out on it. Almost immediately, I started feeling reallllly fuzzy and drunk. I pretty much had no idea what was going on and needed to take a nap.

Overall, things went great and I'm feeling really good right now, although the nausea that commonly comes with chemo usually sets in 8-10 hours after you get it, so I'm hoping for the best tonight, and I've got some anti-nausea medicine to help out. The nurses were all super cool ladies, and I'm really happy to get this stuff started; the sooner I start, the sooner I finish. I also got a shitload of meds to take over the next few weeks and a nifty little calendar to keep me on track, so that's good.

Pictures from today coming tomorrow :-)

Oh yeah, and I picked up Rain Man for 5 bucks at Target tonight. Be jealous.