Teresa 1 Cancer 0

2014.03.10

FIRST CHEMO TREATMENT is DONE.

Awake at 5:45 today. I slept well and Peter confirmed that because I was snoring all night. Poor him......

Some morning chats on FB, my daily jab, my new list of pills to take, shower, battle uniform on, breakfast eaten and sandwiches made so we have food to eat during the day.

Feeling the love all day via FB and chats. AMAZING.

Of course leaving our house at 8:15 means it takes a little longer to get KS because everyone else is also on the road. We made it in time though and waited in the waiting room for them to call my name.

A few minutes after 9 a.m. my name is called by my nurse for the day: Anna. She did a great job explaining everything that was going to happen and was very methodical but also very caring and even asked me if I wanted her to talk English or Swedish. I said she could talk Swedish but I might answer sometimes in English if that was OK.

The treatment starts with 2 painkillers and a antihistamine and then a 20 minute wait before the first drugs can be started via drip. The first one is the antibodies and the R in R-CHOP treatment. It would take 5 hours for that one to get into my body. Due to the chance of allergic reaction it is a very slow drip. Halfway through Anna asked how I felt and I said my throat was a little itchy. She turned it off immediately and waited a half hour and then gave me a cortisone shot before we could continue. Better to take it slow the first time.

This is me KICKING ASS.......

Peter was with me today and that was good to have his support. Charlotte and Bea were in for a long visit today and helped to pass the time. Charlotte brought with her some fika that I could eat and it tasted delicious. It was fun to talk about all the things in London we can do as we got first hand tips from Charlotte, a true Londoner. THANKS CHARLOTTE for being there today. It was great. LOVED.

After the R part of R-CHOP comes the chop part. Each of the drugs are given one at a time. It took another 2 and a half hours to get these into me. It was calm in the room. Almost an anticlimax to think that these drugs, liquids and pills are going to save my life. Our bodies are amazing and the people who have done research to make all this work are also amazing. GRATEFUL

My bags of drugs!

Fun to get some red juice......

During the day my phone "pinged" every few minutes and the outpouring of love and support made it feel like everyone was in the room with me. It was crowded today in that room. GRATEFUL and LOVED.

I was finished at 4:30 pm and it was time to head home in the Stockholm traffic. Slowly, but surely we made our way home to the kids and Farmor Eva who had made Swedish pancakes for dinner for the kids. THANKS EVA.

After dinner I had some energy and went out for a 10 minute walk with Linda, my neighbor nurse to update her and so we could get some fresh air. I have energy. I got my circulation going also after being in the bed all day. It felt good. EXERCISE

Now I am a little tired but still feel good as today's battle resulted in a win for me and loss for CANCER as I have started the treatment. Yippieeeeeeeeeeee................

LOVED. KICK CANCER'S ASS. DRUGS. PAINKILLERS. GRATEFUL. EXERCISE.