Boy did my hand blow up after Thursday's digging expedition into the veins in the back of my hand... By evening, I could not even make a fist any more, let alone hold anything heavier than a pen. It was quite painful... So I was not looking forward to Friday's stick, and to the one after that, and the one after that, and the one after that...
The nurse felt badly about the previous day's bruising experience, and asked the doctor to lead the renewed digging expedition for Friday. After extensive searching, the good doc did find a suitable candidate and got the vein in one stick. That's the good news. The bad news is that the only suitable vein she could find is the one that has been stuck several times already in the half inch where it is usable.
To top things off, I also had an appointment with Dr. V, my poison man aka medical oncologist, on Friday. Previously, they had only 'milked' one vial full of blood from a finger stick, so I assumed this visit would be no different. Oh was I wrong! They wanted FOUR vials of blood this time, as they are running all kinds of tumor marker tests and other stuff to determine my readiness for chemo. So they too needed to stick my poor veins! Needless to say, the only good vein they could find... was the poor thing that had gotten prodded already earlier that morning, and the day before.... I think it was the most painful stick of my life (so far) -- and it burned like crazy. Even an ice pack didn't manage to get through the burn and pain until hours later. Yikes! Not a good feeling. At least this morning's nurse was able to find a different vein to stick (it's so hard because my veins like to hide and roll, and my left arm is off limits due to the mastectomy and sentinel node biopsy).
Turns out that they could have gotten the blood later if they had known. But the phlebotomist didn't seem to care when I told her I had gotten stuck there earlier that day and had been having problems with all the sticks due to the IVF cycle. Now I'm not letting them touch that vein any more, since I'm afraid it'll collapse. It's very tender and clearly irritated -- and I'm going to need it for the egg retrieval next week! Furthermore, I'll probably get my chemo port the week after, as clearly, my veins are very sensitive. So I don't want to risk getting chemo in those small blood vessels that pass for veins in my arms.
The visit with Dr. V also clarified my chemo treatment. I'll be doing the toughest breast cancer chemo in town, which is known as dose intense ACT chemotherapy. Starting on May 28, I will be receiving four biweekly courses of a cocktail of adriamycin and cytoxan, followed by four biweekly courses of taxol. Fun stuff all three of them, which is why I have to get a MUGA heart scan on 5/18 so they can check later and compare to see if the drugs damaged my heart. They don't call adriamycin the "red devil" for nothing... All three compounds are highly poisonous to cells which is why they kill cancer cells -- but potentially also other, more vital cells in my body.
So let's recap: My immediate future contains at least two surgeries (egg retrieval and chemo port placement), a bunch more needlesticks and IV placements in my increasingly tortured veins, and the first of eight cytotoxic chemo treatments. What fun. But then again, even if it's hard to face all of this right now, it is an investment into my future!!! The chemo will drastically improve my chances of beating this cancer, which means the harder they hit me, the better my chances.
So I told them to hit me as hard as my body can take it.
Watch out future, here I come!!!
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