A spin for the positive

Well. I was a little upset this morning having to go for another chemotherapy round. But after an hour, I was feeling pretty positive. This week I didn't have to get blood drawn which is always lovely. I saw my oncologist and talked with him about all the pain and coughing I've been having. He poked, prodded, looked at my bruise, listened to my lungs, tapped me in all these different places and concluded that I had bronchitis but that my lungs were surprisingly clear. I have to be on a few medications to clear things up but that's ok... It is bearable to swallow pills that could stop me from heavy painful coughing. That's all I needed to hear from him, deep breath in, out. Reassurance.
I am so glad that I got to do these last two rounds of chemo with my oncologist. I'm comfortable at the clinic. I like and trust the nurses. They make me feel valuable and cared for. There were 6 patients all getting chemo today. I got to the clinic a bit early at 8:10 and saw my oncologist at 9am. Then at 9:30 am they started the heating pad on my hand. Then around 10:00am I got the line in my left hand. My veins are recovering from the last rounds of chemo. I can heal. At 10:30 I started getting the pre-drugs- allergy and antinausea medication. At 11am I got Taxol and it took 3 hours to get it in me. It is normally 1 hour but since I'm only doing two chemo infusions for the last two rounds, I get the triple dose. Then I got Avastin at 2:00pm and Carboplatin at 3:00pm. Then at 3:40pm they started pushing saline into me to clear out my vein, this lasted til 4:30. That's a long time overall. Like a full time job.
I shared with my nurses about an interesting new invention that lessens the complications some have with their veins, the ladies thought it was good to read about:
http://www.industrytap.com/veinviewer-means-no-poking-people-relentlessly-locate-veins/27706
They were also excited to talk with me about the lyphodoema specialist I saw... I felt useful and able to share a little knowledge, made me feel more at ease...
I had a book to read, it was good. I am enjoying an audiobook called You can change your life by Louise Hay which is really helpful. I had magazines and games to play as well. I even got to Skype with my wonderful parents until my mom noticed that I yawned a few times within a minute. I did nap on and off, didn't fight it but there were so many people around me I didn't deeply nap/sleep. I finished with a smile.
I walked back to the MTR feeling at peace. I found a place to sit down. I got back to Causeway Bay and visited the pharmacy. As I was walking to the pharmacy I tried out what Louise Hay mentioned in her book, that you can have positive intentional thoughts... so I thought "I'm going to have a good visit to the pharmacy and they will have what I need." I went to the pharmacy where they recognize me and are really helpful and friendly. I talked with the owner who asked how I was doing and feeling. He looked at my list of medication (8 drugs in one prescription sheet, sheesh) and said, I am giving you a discount today. So I got reasonably priced medication. Then he said to me, please make a copy of this receipt and then when you visit again, I will match with the same price for the prescription you buy. Ok, done. That was certainly a good visit to the pharmacy.
I enjoyed the visit with my son when I got home even with a few glitches in our interaction and then had a delicious dinner and a really helpful qigong session packed with breathing exercises which was just what I needed. The anti-inflammatory has really helped me plus I think I'm feeling mentally better about things so the pain in my lung, side and back has lessened. I'm so relieved about that...
Getting thru the days. Will see about tomorrow. Take the day carefully. Take my anti-nausea medicine. Not push myself. Looking forward to it. Think it can be a good day. My husbadn has asked me to take taxis for his peace of mind as a journey around for the next week. I can certainly respect his wishes. I did take the MTR home but that was because the appointment was in Mong Kok and it is a new place for me and I felt calmer just taking the elevator down and going into the MTR to go home vs walking around buildings looking for a taxi stand, felt like I was protecting my energy...
As always, thanks for journeying with me, visiting on my ups and downs, for a chemo treatment day it had a few downs but I'm just really surprised how many ups I've had... One more and then I am done with chemo. Wow. I can take it all day by day but "one more" makes me smile presently.

Still can't quite smile at first in these sessions but I got my bottom to the seat.

Drugs working their way into me...

I appreciate that the needle is mostly covered...
Heat pad underneath me to ease the pain and stinging as the medication went in...
Was ok, not terrible pain, just eased with a little heat.