Met my brother at the cancer center for his blood work prior to his first Chemo and Radiation treatment tomorrow. All results in normal range.
We had a long visit with the Nurse Practitioner Ms. Rose and got a lot of information from her.
After his first chemo tomorrow he will be sent to the Radiation Center for his first treatment there. Then the next day he is to return to the chemo department for a check on his blood work and for fluids if needed. Then to the radiation department for his second treatment. She said that he will feel the effects for a few days after his first treatment.
He is to go 5 days a week for radiation treatments and once every 3 weeks for chemo.
We were shown the chemo room and there were a lot of chairs and a lot of people in them receiving chemo. There was a whole wall of windows with a great view of the trees and sky outside. There was a bathroom on one end of the room and also a place with food and snacks on the other side of the room.
It was kinda strange looking to me. These patients were sitting comfortably in their soft reclining chairs - hooked up to the IV bags and doing normal things like reading, using their phones and computers. It just looked surreal. Like something out of a futuristic movie. All these patients with cancer doing normal things while hooked up to poison that will try and kill the cancer growing in them and could possibly kill them as well. Poison that will make them really ill and leave them with many side effects. I'll never forget the feeling I got when I walked into that room. The scene is burned into my mind.
I really liked the nurse practitioner who did a great job of explaining the procedure and what to expect. In my opinion, chemo patients receive a lot of attention to detail and closely cared for - more so than radiation patients.
I would have needed fluids on many occasions during my radiation treatments but it was not mentioned or offered to me. In fact it was ignored when I showed symptoms of dehydration. At one point I had to sit down outside of the center as I felt that I would faint. A friend was with me and wanted to drive me home but I rested a while then drove home. I was really sick at this point which was early in my treatment.
We all left the center and all felt overwhelmed by the experience. I will be driving him to all of his treatments starting tomorrow at 7:30am.
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