Be Prepared!

With the date of my first chemo set for Monday, September 27th, there was a lot to do to get prepared.

My Port:
I had my port put in a couple weeks before chemo started, and it was a relatively simple surgical procedure, and I was in and out of the surgical center in a few hours. The operating room was the most hideous shade of green, and when I commented on the color, the scrub nurses told me it was a color chosen by one of the doctors on staff and they hated it as well. (When I say aweful, I mean AWEFUL! Think army green gone wrong. On all the walls!) Because they used twilight anesthesia, I was not completely asleep during the procedure. It was certainly a little weird to be slightly awake during the surgery! Not being completely under anesthesia also resulted in me asking some random and slurred: “Do you do these surgeries often?” is one I remember asking. How embarrassing! Although I’m sure they have heard worse. The recovery was easy, but I barely survived the 5 days of no showering. It was a trailer-trash bath for me until I could get the surgical sight wet. But it was all worth it in the end to make chemo just a little bit easier.

Chemo Info Session:
Michael and Ashley came with me to tour the chemotherapy wing of the hospital and learn all about what to expect from the drugs. I was impressed with the facility – it was so new, clean and relatively private. My nurse, Cathy (who would become a favorite over the next few months) gave us the tour and then shared all the specifics. Most of what she told us I already knew and had been told by my oncologist. But it was helpful to hear it again, and it made me feel like even though I was one of the many patients who would receive treatment there, I was important. We disussed what to expect on treatment days, when I would feel the worst, when I would feel better, which medicines to take and which to avoid, ways to stay healthy, wigs and hats, etc. An interesting bit of info I got during the session was shared with Mike and I after Ashley had left early. Nurse Cathy looked at both of us and said “It is ok to be intimate while undergoing chemotherapy. You will just need to use protection.” Thinking she was referring to me, I told her that I had an IUD and we should be fine. She then said “No. He (pointing to Michael) will need to use protection – from you.” Who knew?

The House:
Not knowing how chemo was going to affect me and having the fear that I would, in an extreme case, be incapacitated for the next 4 months, I began to get things organized around the house. I stocked up on things for my kids, bought comfy clothes for myself (who wants to wear jeans to chemo?), and gathered every chick flick I owned in my bedroom so I would have something to watch if I ended up confined to my bed for a while. I filled up soap dispensers and had hand sanitizer all over the house to help keep germs away. I even convinced Michael that putting a small refrigerator in our bedroom would be very helpful during the chemo months. We picked up a stainless steel one from Sam’s Club and stocked it with water bottles, juice boxes and chocolate milk boxes for Norah (she would be home with me every day and was still in her “must have chocolate milk” phase). I also created a medicine basket next to my bed containing EVERY remedy known to mankind that I could possibly need: Tylenol, Motrin, anti-diarrhea, stool softeners, Pepto-Bismol, heartburn relief, mouth spray, nasal spray, Claritin, Benadryl, etc. If Target sold it, I bought it!

Priesthood Blessings:
Whenever I am faced with a difficult situation, a trial or challenge in my life, I have often requested a priesthood blessing for direction and comfort. Facing cancer was no exception. I had Michael give me a blessing during that first week of craziness, and I was also fortunate enough to receive a blessing from a visiting member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. What a privilege that was for me, and while I will not share the details of the blessing here, I will say that he blessed that my doctors would know how to heal me and I would live a long and healthy life with my family. My faith in my Savior and in the promises given in those blessings truly sustained me throughout this ordeal.