Fighting Breast Cancer

Although I’ve completely convinced my mind that chemo is great (my cough was completely gone by round 2!  Yes!), my body is revolting against that idea.  Today it took three different chemo nurses digging in my arm to find a vein that they could tap into to start my chemo. 

The chemo nurse suggested that I either get a port catheter or a picc line catheter.  A port is a catheter that is surgically implanted beneath the skin of your chest.  The tip of the catheter lies in a large vein above your heart.  The implanting of the port does require minor surgery with general anesthetic.  But, the benefits of a port are that you don’t have any limitations.  You can shower and swim.  Your life is uninterrupted.

A picc line is a catheter that is fed with a wire from the sight (usually in the arm) to a large vein in the chest.  There is a greater risk of infection with a picc line because it is an external catheter.  The sight has to remain covered with steril bandages at all times; it cannot get wet at all.  This means that it has to be wrapped in cellaphane before showering.  The good thing about a picc line is that it can be quickly implanted by a picc line nurse and does not require formal surgery or general anesthesia.

To tell you the truth, I don’t want either of them.  I don’t want to have surgery and I don’t want to have an external catheter.  I’d rather endure the digging and bruising of my arms as the nurses search for a vein.

Speaking of which, the premeds have all drained into my arm and it’s time for my chemo.  I involuntarily make a face.  Then I force myself to relax and chew the ice cubes that the nurse has handed to me in a cup.  I try to zone out and watch television while my mom sits in a chair next to me.  The nurse is pushing The Red Devil through my veins.  It’s bright color is distracting me from the complicated plot of Magnum P.I. on t.v.  It’s hypnotic to watch it go in.  She follows up the chemo with an injection of Aranesp in my arm.

At last, my third round is finished.  And, again because of the Emend, my appetite is piqued.  I suggest lunch at Chuy’s Mesquite Broiler for a mahi mahi salad and wait for my mother to bring the car around.

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.