Chemo begins today

Today was the day. I relate it to going to the dentist when I was a little girl. I hated going to the dentist. I always had cavities and they had to be worked on. That meant a shot which I dreaded. I was anxious about today. I was told before hand by my doctor about what would happen but there is still the unknown. Ken and I got to the Huntsman Cancer Institute at 11:00 a.m. We went to the labs to have the IV put in and a blood draw. The blood goes to be tested to make sure that everything is okay for chemo. We met with Dr. Gouw and his staff and met the Social Worker and talked about a lot of things. Then we went to the infusion room and waited for the Pharmacy to mix the chemo drug. That is not done until the labs are back and you are physically sitting in the infusion room. It takes about and hour for that to come. So the chemo started around 2:30. The infusion room is incredible. It's this large half moon shaped room that has windows looking down on the Salt Lake Valley. It's really beautiful. There are many pods in there with partitions between the patients but still very open. There is a large reclining chair for the patient to sit in and I could bring up to two people to be with me. They asked if I would like a warm blanket which I really loved. There was a TV and DVD player for each pod. Shawnee came up to be with Ken and I which we really appreciated. When they started the drip I really got emotional. I cried for a while which helped me feel better. I was worried about Ken being hungry. He had gotten up early to go into work and hadn't had lunch. I was a little hungry so Shawnee went to the Bistro and picked up some food. The infusion took about 90 minutes. We got home around 5:30. When we got home there were some beautiful flowers with two balloons on the table. Kory and Tina had them sent to us. That really brightened my day. Mi Hui Wright provided a scrumptious dinner for us. Becky Goldhart came to visit and brought homemade whole wheat bread and raspberry jam. We had a great visit. I talked with many people on the phone and our children were here to love and cheer us on. It was a big day and we got through it. I am so blessed. My cup runneth over.