the long hello

Well we spent 9:30 to 4 in the hospital today. No surprises, except for the fact that the first H/T dose takes a whopping 6 hours to get through. Mama mia! Most of that time is because they are very careful when introducing the Taxol for the first time. The nurse even made a point to stay in the room with us for the first 15 minutes. But I'm getting ahead of myself. First we visited the oncologist, who was "very pleased" with the progression of Becca's tumor. It's softening up very nicely. Also she said there was nothing of note on the echo from last week. We are not scheduled to see her again for a month, even though we will now have weekly chemo visits for the next 11 weeks.

So then on to the drugs. First some saline to start out, then some Tylenol, then the Herceptin, then Benadryl (or as Becca soon called it Bena-zi-za...zzzzzz. Definitely got some nappage at that point.) Then Decadron then Pepsid and finally the Taxol: first at 25%, then get her vitals, then at 50%, then get her vitals again, then finally 100%. Phew! A long process to be sure, but clearly all to be as safe as possible on introduction to this drug. Our subsequent visits will be nowhere near as involved.

We finally left at 4 and Becca felt ok, but still really sleepy (bendadryl? taxol? both?). She slept a bit more this evening but seems to be doing well for having all these new drugs in her. We shall see how the rest of the week goes.

Lastly, careful calendar watchers will notice the genetics appointment is back on for this Friday. Right. I'll believe it when we actually get to the appointment and it is not cancelled.