Chewing gum

So I had my third internal radiation today. It definitely went better than the other two times. I had the same nurse that I started out with last time. He is a care team leader (charge nurse) and we have great rapport.

Geoff dropped me off at the hospital at 7:30 this morning after we had already dropped the kids off at daycare. After dropping me off, Geoff headed to work and I headed up to the CIU (care initiation  unit). I got checked into my room, had vitals taken, and asked about getting my port accessed by my nurse asap.

Unfortunately the unit did not have the needle for my port stocked on the floor so they had to order it from Central Supply and of course it did not come before transport came to take me downstairs for radiation. My nurse called downstairs and expressed my frustration about the issues with accessing my port from last time so it was arranged that a nurse from radiation oncology with experience accessing ports would meet me downstairs and have everything ready to go.

Upon arrival in the dungeon I was promptly greeted. I had a different anesthesiologist and an anesthesiologist assistant today. The anesthesiologist introduced himself and then said something to the effect of "so you have already had this twice and you tell us what worked and didn't work for you." I'm not sure he was expecting me to say much, but I gave him an earful about not wanted to wake up with a peripheral iv this time and which nausea meds I desired and even more specifically that I would really prefer the avoidance of narcotics if not absolutely necessary (last time I was given dilaudid with no explanation...dilaudid is like morphine but stronger for you non-pharmaceutical savy folks).

The anesthesiologist took it all in stride and acknowledged that they would do their best to accommodate me. Then my doctor came and talked to me for a minute and then we headed into the special room. I walked in as always and got myself situated on the table. I always wear the same fuzzy socks on my internal radiation days and as usual everyone commented on them. Other than anesthesia it is always the same people doing my treatments so they think it is really funny that I bring my own hot pink fuzzy socks with grippy bottoms (thanks Melissa!) so I don't have to wear the hospital issued socks.

As the resident put my SCD's on (sequential compression device's...things that massage my calves to prevent blood clots) I laughed about never having seen a resident do such things before. Meanwhile I put on my own EKG cables. The anesthesiology assistant tried to say something like "oh we can do that for you..." but someone else said "why? She did herself last time and the time before and she's faster than us." At this point I was given Versad, the drug that usually knocks me out, but I was awake long enough today that I actually was aware when they gave me propofol (another sedation med).

As usual I don't remember anything past that point until I was being wheeled into recovery. I never want to wake up when I am first getting to recovery, but once I realize where I am and what is going on I wake up pretty quick. I had to laugh because it was automatic for me even though I was fairly groggy to help change all my monitoring equipment from anesthesia to the recovery room equipment. According to the anesthesiologist I woke up asking about my respiratory rate and pulse ox level (oxygen level). I do not remember this and I am a little embarrassed, but oh well so I micro-manage. They thought it was funny.

I was in recovery long enough to have some nausea meds, Tylenol and take out my catheter and then I headed back up to my room. Once I got to my room I had some food, talked with my doctor, and headed home.

According to my radiation oncologist, there hasn't been much change this past week or so. There is still a visible spot on my cervix and there is question about whether it is irritation, scar tissue, or tumor. The area in question is still about 1 cm x 2 cm and looks like someone took "a wad of chewing gum and stuck it on my cervix (maybe not the greatest analogy, but it gave me the mental image I needed)." Apparently this happens sometimes and the majority of time it is resolved before the first follow up appointment in four weeks; however, if it is not I will go back to my gyn oncologist for another biopsy. If it then turns out to still be tumor (possible but unlikely) then I will most likely have a hysterectomy pretty quickly. *sigh* We knew there was more waiting and uncertainty, but it still wasn't the most fun to hear. At the same time, the good news is that everything else appears to be resolved and localized (as in there doesn't appear to be cancer anywhere else right now). Next week I will have another MRI with one of my treatments which will give us a better idea of whether it is tumor, or irritation/scar tissue.

After I left the hospital, Geoff took me home so I could sleep and then headed back to work. I've been having a lot of issues with nausea the past few days and I am extremely tired so I was glad to have the house to myself for a few hours. I slept until everyone came home and then promptly went back to sleep for a little bit longer. It definitely helped. In the morning my mom and brother are coming to help with the kids for a few hours so I can take another nap and Thursday and Friday I made arrangements so I only have one of the kids home with me each day so I can sleep when whichever kid I am with is sleeping. I plan on taking the rest of this week very easy and most likely next week too.