8 LITTLE MONKEYS...

jumping on a bed. One fell off and broke his head. Doctor came over and he said- NO MORE MONKEYS JUMPING ON THE BED!
One down!
It wasn't too bad. Likely due to all of the well-timed support... I can't tell you how much all of your comments/well wishes/happy thoughts, etc. mean to me. Thanks so much!
The port, although good to have, makes me feel a bit like one of the BORG on star treck. I have a tube that runs from up under my collar bone into my jugular vein then down into my heart (?). In any event, I feel/look kinda freaky-scifish. But better then getting IVs all the time.
The actual chemo session wasn't bad at all. I just sat in a chair and hung out with jim. (Jim pointed out I was about 1/3 the age of most people in there) They "pushed" this huge (red) vial of Adriamycin into my port over about 5 minutes. Then they dripped in the Cytoxan over about an hour... along with a bunch of anti-nausea drugs. (As the nurse pointed out, they gave me "everything they've got" for anti-nausea.) Didn't hurt, no immediate effects-- I was just tired from the port surgery in the morning.
It's strange to sit around and wait to see how your body's going to react. It's all so unknown. The good news is that almost all of the symptoms are treatable... better yet, I didn't seem to have that bad of a reaction to anything. Just kinda like a minor hangover-- not bad.
Yesterday, however, was bad in that it overstretched my physical capability and great in that it proved what a tremendous support network we have. I went to work in the morning, during which I felt fine and enjoyed getting lots of compliments on my "new do". In the afternoon I took Liam to the dr. because he's been out of sorts and seemed like he had an ear infection. Sure enough, he does, but they had trouble getting a good pulse ox while he was at the doctor and ended up having him sent to the emergency room in an ambulance. Poor little guy!
As has happened several times in the past, as soon as he got to the hospital, he perked up and seemed fine. Luckily, my mom met me there, as I was pretty well spent because I didn't get a chance to eat and it's still really hard for me to hold liam with port so new and all.
In any event, we ended up just leaving the hospital after several hours of not being seen by a doctor and liam being ok (and me going downhill). Lisa and Tracey picked up my car from the place so it wouln't get towed (I went in the ambulance), Dad picked up the prescriptions, our neighbor brought over dinner, Annie went to pick up jim's mom at the airport, since we couldn't go out, and our pediatrician actually made a house call to make sure that Liam was ok (which he pretty much is). My mom is watching liam today.
So, as for me, as a result of yesterday's exploits, I'm exhausted. What I would do without everyone I have no idea. Luckily I don't have to worry about that.