So I'm home again (we got home on Sat night, a day and a half ago) and recovering from my second cycle of infusions. Finally got the terminology right ...
1 Round includes:
2 five-day cycles of infusions
and the time off between them (2 weeks then 4).
then a CT scan to determine if the best course of action of another Round.
My mother and sister are here helping me recover before they head back at the end of the week. I was lucky in that Ki was able to spend a couple of evenings and stay over night in the room with me up at the hospital. It's a big deal for me to have their support right now, and I haven't forgotten all of the offers to help drive me up and to bring me back from Portland. These treatments can go up to 6 Rounds... so believe me, I just may call on you for some of that help (rides, chow etc.) so many have graciously offered.
They say cycle 2 is supposed to be somewhat similar, if not a little easier, than cycle 1, as your body more quickly responds. The immune response remembers your reaction last time, and that seems to have been the case for me. It seemed like everything I experienced on cycle 1 came at me about a half or a full day quicker, which meant a pretty quick dive into the side effects (and I still didn't get the sail boat, and apparently someone else gets a Brad Pitt side effect that I don't have either... hmph!).
I seemed to have a slightly quickly recovery time, but Dr Curti felt I was having a strong enough response to spare my body at the same point as the first. Little things like stupid blood pressure, kidney and liver function etc. seem to matter, so here I am with my face about 33% burnt to a flaky yucky crisp (which is about 25.34% less than last time if you're counting). Of course I also wasn't really feeling up to blogging at all this time, hence the 1 week delay.
There were a couple of moments when I seriously felt like it was a bit more than I was expecting to deal with, but knowing that I was doing exactly what I was supposed to be doing, where I was supposed to be doing it really made an impact. I'm certain all of the positive energy being sent my way is helping.
My mom and sister were super amazed at the staff as well. They indicated Dr Curti and the nursing staff were so good that it put their minds at ease for me to be up there. It's a good thing we baked cookies (or rather I asked my mom and sister to...) as a coming back for treatment hello kinda thing :). I'll have to think of something clever to take up next time. Maybe I'll label them "special brownies" and see who takes more than the others... lol This is the Pacific Northwest after all.
I would apologize to all in my company who are seeing their insurance rates go up... it's probably from this treatment... and if so I'm claiming that I didn't write this, rather that my account here was hacked by that classay senator Hot Dog from New Jersey... And if you're uncertain as to IL 2 treatment being correct, than explain why the damn Price is Right theme kept creeping into my head? Mom said we should go to see a show of it once I've kicked this thing out of me, but I don't think Drew Carey really has the same panache as Bob Barker (or those hilariously creepy models they had that kept getting older ... Janice or whatever? Price is Right Zombies is what they were! :) Okay okay... just kidding... I think it would have been really funny if the models stayed up to the same age as Bob Barker...
And to those of you wondering what the Brad Pitt effect was, it's related to the delusions and hallucinations some people experience during treatment. I'm not lucky enough for this to bang around my brain like some others apparently (it's always a possibility, but according to the nurses, if it hasn't done so by the 2nd cycle it probably won't), but one of their patients always knew she had been given enough infusions on her cycles when Brad Pitt would appear in one of the chairs in the room. Same Chair, same Brad etc. Of course I wanted to know if we were talking Mr & Mrs Smith hot or girly long hair pretty Brad. They weren't sure.
I did have a handful of seriously odd vivid dreams. The last was reverse black and white (similar to Frank Miller's "Sin City") and the hilarious thing I remember was going into a seedy part of town for pizza and pasta with meat balls... and everything was black and white but the food (hey last time it was doughnuts in a cartoonish dreamscape of the Paris casino in Las Vegas.) Probably was a sensory memory from the amazing smelling pizza leftovers Ki had from my mom and sister's Thursday night dinner.
And thank you to the brave souls who came to visit during the week (3 friends from Portland and a couple of Ki's best friends from medical school) and a special note for M smuggling Ki a couple of brews after his stressful week. I think it was almost as hard for him to not be there as it was for me to be getting the spa treatment (we'll see if that term sticks... my skin hasn't regenerated quite yet, but we're working the Aveeno face mask that Ki developed already).
Of course it goes without saying... the insane Chewbacca stuffed thing was hilarious and all the nursing staff thought it was quite rad (very fun bday gift Kyle!).
One more thing - major congratulations to my man - Ki passed his medical boards and has no more testing to take before he graduates next year! I'm super proud of him and how he's managed to do so well with the tough things being handed to him.
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