Today (1/31/2015) marks the beginning of my second round of chemo. Yes, this is the third Chemo Sesh, but there are three(ish) seshes within each round of chemo. Today’s genocidal drugs that inflated my veins like a mutant carnival balloon animal were the same compounds that first entered my bloodstream a week ago on day one. The first implementation of these drugs, as you may remember, resulted in a slight metallic taste in my mouth and some neon peach pee pees.
According to the lovely and brilliant Ashley RN, this is the dose of the chemo that I should start feeling….hence the artsy fartsy color corrected picture above! Expect some more nit, grit, snark and dark.
I explained these drugs in the vaguest of details possible last time, because I was new and fresh in the unit and truly didn’t care. The idea of receiving chemo was oddly exciting to me, so I went in with a devil-may-shit attitude. I paid a little closer attention tonight and took some more time to ask questions and peep the process. Also, I was wearing several scarves and made RN Ashley listen to Phish the whole time because I want everybody in this oncology unit to RESPECT (or insert your own adjective here) me!!
As you see in the above left photo, poor Phish hating Ashley (“so uh… do they ever sing?”) had to sit next to me for 20 minutes while she manually injected an unearthly pink goo directly into my heart via my PICC (article pending). Notice how she is wearing an impervious hazmat suit to protect her from the radioactive death chemicals in her hands, yet I’m just sittin’ out there like I’m getting a tan and holding that shit up to my eyes, nose, and mouth. My left arm looks like I’ve been living on the corner of Colfax and Logan for the last 7 years selling my teeth and orifices of increasingly deteriorating usefulness for fixes of smack. I suppose that will only get worse before it get’s better… but at least this white middle class ex-farm boy will finally look like he has some street cred, right? RIGHT?
:flips womens’ scarves over shoulder:
This is the session that is supposed to hurt me. I’ve been told to expect to start feeling the fatigue, the malaise, the rectal crudbutt and general gunkery that accompanies the suicide pact that you force your blood cells to sign. As for now, I feel normal except for the weird chemical taste in my mouth. I’m pretty sure the only way I can fix it is with frosted flakes… thankfully my friends in the blood cancer unit went on a pirate raid down to bone marrow and stole all of the mini-boxes they could from their kitchen. There will never be enough said about having too many friends.
The first lesson I will teach to my children when they are old enough to learn is: “you don’t get four free boxes of frosted flakes if you’re a jerk with a bad attitude.” Then I will take a big sip of scotch and fall asleep on the couch at 5pm with my mouth completely agape. I’m really looking forward to fatherhood, now that I think about it. Glad I froze those lil’guys.
Give Ashley a listen of this one. It’s short and they sing a lot! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jStpzbdAhz4
I think she just ran out of the room to pour chemo into her ears
Give Ashley a listen of this one. It’s short and they sing a lot! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jStpzbdAhz4
I think she just ran out of the room to pour chemo into her ears
Wow man. All of our vibes and prayers are being sent to you! Seems surreal.
hey man! I appreciate it! It’s pretty strange but…not anything weirder than any other life things, ya know?
Thanks for saying hi 🙂
Wow man. All of our vibes and prayers are being sent to you! Seems surreal.
hey man! I appreciate it! It’s pretty strange but…not anything weirder than any other life things, ya know?
Thanks for saying hi 🙂
Curious what 20-minute jam you played for her? Good luck with your upcoming sesh!
Mike’s from 6/25/95 as well as some other stuff from that show while she was in the room…and the went gin as she was cleaning up
There’s no way Ashley wasn’t dancing and smiling while cleaning to the Went Gin…it’s physically impossible.
she secretly dug it.
Curious what 20-minute jam you played for her? Good luck with your upcoming sesh!
Mike’s from 6/25/95 as well as some other stuff from that show while she was in the room…and the went gin as she was cleaning up
There’s no way Ashley wasn’t dancing and smiling while cleaning to the Went Gin…it’s physically impossible.
she secretly dug it.
poor Ashely
lol
poor Ashely
lol
This entry made me think of when I had my first round of radiation. The nurse who brought it to me was wearing a full on haz mat suit, with rubber gloves and the whole nine yards. She removed the radiation treatment from a lead tube with tongs, and handed it to me as I was sitting there in my street clothes. You want me to ingest that?! Stay strong! 🙂
I decided to bathe with the remainder when she was done. f-it 😉
This entry made me think of when I had my first round of radiation. The nurse who brought it to me was wearing a full on haz mat suit, with rubber gloves and the whole nine yards. She removed the radiation treatment from a lead tube with tongs, and handed it to me as I was sitting there in my street clothes. You want me to ingest that?! Stay strong! 🙂
I decided to bathe with the remainder when she was done. f-it 😉
when are you going to start torturing her with Bisco?! Treatment #3? Im coming for that one! 😉
When are you going torture her with Bisco? Session #3? I’ll come for that one and bring some lasers.
I have a bone marrow biopsy on friday morning. I’ll shred a sick Abyss at them while I’m all loopy on fentanyl