TGIF!

Even though they added a whole bunch of drugs today I'm still glad it's Friday since it means the end of the biopsies and fine needle aspirations for a while. Although I must admit the ones today were the easiest yet. The worst part was the lidocaine injections, other than that I didn't really feel them at all. Plus I had the same techs all week and it was nice seeing the same faces. The bone marrow biopsy tech is one of my favorite people to talk to so far, although I guess I can't rule out that it's partly the fentanyl doing the talking on my end! From today until Tuesday I only have to go once a day for labs, central line flush, and battery/saline bag change on my new "buddy" (more on my new buddy to follow).

In addition to the biopsy and fine needle aspiration I went to get my hair chopped to make it easier to manage in the short term and as a baby step toward the "bald is beautiful" look that seems to be on the horizon. I asked one of the clinic nurses if she knew a good place to go since she was talking about living in the area, and she gave me the number of her stylist. Mondi was a sweetheart and she gave me a great cut. She's an independent stylist with a cute little studio space, so it was a nice quiet experience. She gave me a serious discount too so she gets an A+ in my book. Let me know how you like the new look!


At 11 inches it's long enough to donate, but I suppose I could have a wig made for myself!


Later in the day it was time to get my "chemo bag" and it definitely isn't a stylish accessory but I do have to carry it around like purse for the next 5 days. It's pretty heavy too so now I have two heavy purses to carry around. One is full of normal purse crap and paperwork I need to have with me, and the other is full drugs, saline, infusion pumps, and a chemical spill cleanup kit..."just in case". Ha...it's perfectly fine to pump it into my body, but if it spills I have to use a special clean-up kit and bring it back for proper disposal! They also gave me a shot of a blood thinner to help prevent embolisms from the thalidomide, and a couple of anti-nausea meds. We headed home only to be called back to say they had forgotten to give me the Velcade that should have been scheduled for today (but got left off somehow). It wasn't on my schedule either, but when I looked back I saw it is part of the study protocol for day 5 so I'm glad they caught it and it was just a quick shot.

Here's me posing with my new buddy in front of one of the myeloma research displays in the cancer center.
So now for the day I'm up to 13 different meds, once I take my thalidomide in a few minutes. We got the thalidomide mix-up straightened out too. The girl at the desk looked horrified that it had happened, but she quickly set it straight. The even owed me $10, because my copay is only $25. This is amazing considering the sticker price for the pack was $3589.16!

I'm still feeling good so far even despite all the drugs and procedures. I'm a little sore from the biopsies and I had a little bit of nausea the first night, and then again after the melphalan, but it was really minor.