My sister is in town for Thanksgiving, so she came with me to today's appointment. It was a smooth and uneventful visit!
I took off the dressing for the port incision at home because I needed to put the numbing cream on the port itself. The incision is covered with Steri-Strips, so I still can't see what the stitches look like.
I got my port accessed at 9:45, headed up to the infusion room, got my vitals checked, and was settled into a bay by 10:15. The infusion nurse gave me my pre-meds, and we waited for my blood work to finish and for the hospital pharmacy to prepare the drugs. (I think the Taxol and Herceptin aren't prepared until the blood work confirms I will get treatment that day; the drugs expire within 24 hours, and it sounds like the nurses don't request them until they know they will definitely be used.)
I started the Herceptin just before 11:00, then started Taxol at 11:30.
After the Taxol finished at 12:30, the nurse de-accessed my port and looked at the port incision. She said to leave the Steri-Strips on until they fall off by themselves, and next Friday she'll remove the stitches. (Actually, she said she wouldn't be in next week, but she'll leave instructions.) She also confirmed I can go ahead and cancel the other appointment that the other nurse made for me in the city.
I got my Lupron shot, and my blood work report. I had two values out of range, the same two as last week. The Im Gran (Immature Granulyte) value crept up a tiny bit higher, and the AbsLymp (Absolute Lymphocyte) dropped a teeny bit lower.
We left around 12:45. Today's visit was about 3 hours total, probably the shortest visit I've had!
It was nice to have the one-on-one time with my sister. For the first time, though, I did not get offered a lunch! I'm guessing it was an oversight, maybe because the medical assistant who checked me into the infusion room wasn't the one who is usually there. It was fine, though. With yesterday being Thanksgiving, we knew we'd have plenty of food waiting for us back at our parents' house.
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