Chemotherapy 101- Loner Style

Just got off the phone with my dad. He started the chemotherapy today along with Rituxan and was in mid-therapy when I called. They put in a port in his chest last week to facilitate the administration of the drugs, but still had to draw blood from a vein this morning.

When I called he told me he was living the "Life of Riley", sitting in a private room, watching TV and getting ready to play cards for awhile. I don't know what the Life of Riley is - but between patients, I am going to look up just what that entails - because he was having a really good time.

He had needed extra saline this morning because his kidney enzymes are off - so he has had to learn to maneuver to the bathroom with an IV pole. He said he had already turned the IV pole over twice on the way to the potty - and had saline running all over! The nurses are getting wise because when they added the blood pressure cuff on the other side, they told him they'd unhook it before he tried to get to the bathroom again - didn't want to see him try to wrestle with both poles down the hallway.

Says he is feeling fine - but that with all the chemicals it looks like some kind of meth lab. ( Do 65 -year old men know about meth labs - one can only wonder).

He asked about my house - and I told him I was done enough that if I needed to come up to help this weekend I could - and he informed me drolly that 90-year olds come in for this treatment alone, so he should be just fine.

The doctor was in and had a cold. He was wearing a mask - and we agreed that it wouldn't speak much to his abilities if he killed all of his immune-suppressed patients with the common cold he brought to the Oncology center himself. Okay, it isn't funny - but we laughed anyway.

They have asked dad to cut back on the Shaklee supplements he takes - and he responded that some Shaklee Vita-C would take care of the cold that doctor was sporting. He has sworn by the supplements ever since he cheated death the first time in the 70's - he had a plane crash and ruptured the aorta - which is now joined by a big piece of teflon.

I ordered two items from Amazon at the suggestion of one of my friends - they were both entitled Cancer as a Turning Point- they arrived today at his house - so he was able to bring them along - though I hope he waits to read them tomorrow. It is a loner thing - if you don't know how to fix something, buy a book and learn how from someone else.