List #1: Second Treatment

It took 2 hours before my treatment actually got started

(Something about both oncologists were, quite literally, out to lunch.)

I met a newer nurse named Kim.

(Kim claimed to be the "mean nurse" because she'd worked in the ER for the last 16 years.)

My sisters wanted to take photos of EVERYTHING.

(Apparently, my re-tying my shoe as I got out of the car was worthy of documenting.)

We played several rounds of the Famous Person Game before Rebecca gave up and said she was out of 'C' names.

(This is a great game to play in the car or when you're sitting around waiting for something. One person comes up with a famous person, fiction or non, who has a first and last name. The next person follows that up with a first name that starts with the first letter of  the previous person's last name. Example: Bill Cosby is followed up with Charlie Brown.)

Rebecca spotted a pair of cardinals.

(The cancer centre has huge windows over looking a valley, and there are many types of birds that come sit right outside the windows. Oh yeah, and chipmunks.)

Espresso beans are not the perfect cancer centre snack as you might think.

(My best friend Erin and her parents gave me a care package the last time I was home, and one of the items in said package was World Market Espresso beans. Don't eat espresso beans when you're some where that requires many hours of bed sitting.)

My knitting was accused of being something phallic.

(Kim questioned, "What in the world!" was I knitting. It's supposed to be a scarf, and it's not my fault that the ends have a tendency to curl up towards the middle. I never said I was a professional knitter...)

Nurses are under appreciated.

(Having to sit in a bed for more than 5 hours made me think about how precious the men and women who work in the medical profession are, specifically those who're nurses. Kim and Brenda were my nurses, and they, whether they know it or not, really showed me Jesus. There's just really something special about oncology nurses.)

Are there games that you play by yourself or with others when you have to wait around for a long time, like when you're in the doctor's office or on a road trip?

Two Weeks Notice

Here I am, one month, 20 days, and approximately 12 hours since my general physician came into an exam room where I was waiting and shared her assumption of what an x-ray had been showing in my chest. Of course, she wasn't just going off of an x-ray alone; I had had a CT scan a few days prior. regardless, when she walked in and introduced me to Paul, "He works for the oncology department at the hospital," I knew that the results were something that I could've never expected.  Paul was a very sincere man. He gave me his business card, and it read Oncology Nurse Navigator. "What an exciting job title," I thought.

There were so many tests with so many needles! Jump 2 weeks later and I had a biopsy done of the mass that is my lymph nodes in my chest. Jump another week and a half after that and I had a port put in, a bone marrow biopsy, met with a fertility specialist, had a PET scan, an echo cardiogram, and a pulmonary function test. Yes, the latter were all completed within one week! And have I mentioned I really hate needles.

One of my favorite visits  to the hospital--and I only say favorite because there've been many humorous moments at the hospital despite my reason for being there--was when they biopsied the mass. One of my good friends who's  a nurse back in the eastern part of North Carolina came with me. After the operation 3 nurses were adamant about informing myself, the blind patient with the guide dog, and my friend that I was not to drive for the next 12 hours.

 Since all of my tests, being poked with too many needles, and multiple adventures to the hospital, I've since met my oncologist and had my first round of treatment. I can't say that my doctor is the most amicable man around, but he knows his stuff. The game plan, if you will, is to undergo 4 rounds of chemo and then we'll come back to evaluate the situation.


I'm receiving ABVD: Adriamycin, Bleomycin, Vinblastine, and Dacarbazine (Can you say those names 5 times fast?) The chemo treatments will be scheduled every 2 weeks. My mom likes to refer to this as my cokctail. Maybe after all this is said and done I'll create my own alcoholic cocktail. It'll be my triumphant drink of choice, and every time I drink said cocktail I'll savour the flavour of   kicking Hodgkins in the butt!

Tomorrow is round 2 of chemo.