A little closer to the end

The beginning of a long day on the Cedars campus starts at 8:30am with check in at the south tower cardiology wing for an echocardiogram at 9am.  Not the most comfortable procedure.  The technician always has problems getting a good reading because of the implant.  She ends up pushing hard into my rib cage to get the right angle.  Blah.  Not fun.  Twenty-five minutes of uncomfortable pressure in an already sensitive area before she is finally done.

Now a little walk back over to the Samuel Oschin Cancer Center.  As always after checking in, first stop the vampire's lair.  Today, Vampire Paul only has to take six tubes.  Yay!!

Then, in to see the doctor and research team.  We go through the usual check list.  No new symptoms, all the old ones still hanging around.  All my blood work came back beautifully, the counts are all normal and the markers clean.  Time to take my Ativan and today we go ahead and put the Lidocaine rub on now instead of when I get to the treatment area.  The last visit the pharmacist prepared the shots quickly and there had not been enough time for the rub to really work its magic.  The leg is prepared and I go over to registration to check-in for treatment.

Today we go up to the research center for treatment.  I always have this strange feeling when I have to go there.  One has to be escorted there by someone with a special badge to get in the elevator and doors.  You walk through a maze of long, cold, white corridors with hardly any doors.  It feels like you are on your way to a mad scientist's lair.

I get settled in and wait.  After about forty-five minutes the shots arrive.  The nurse is with another patient, so the games begin:

Nurse Shadow at it again.

Southpaw joins in the fun.  Poor Lil Rey.

Now it is my turn.  Boo.  The Lidocaine rub has worked its magic for the most part.  The pain levels are definitely down, but not gone completely.  The first one went in nicely, hardly any pain, perhaps a two on the scale.  The second one gets bumped up to a four on the scale though.  Three and four were a bit higher even, let's say five-six range.  I even flinched a bit on three which is probably not the best thing since it is a needle being stuck in to my body. Within minutes of each going in, the soreness in the injection sites began.  Now we chill out for an hour of observation.

The gang checking out the cobra's handy work.

After my hour, all is good, and I am discharged.  I have a little time before physical therapy, so treat time.

A little vegetable juice, green tea, cheese danish and coconut twist.

Final stop of the day, physical therapy.  We are working on my left arm range of motion still.  She does a little lymphatic massage on my arm to get some chording worked out first.  Then, we learn some new exercises, some of which involve a ball.  Yay!!  It is a light plastic ball about the size of a basketball, but I am still excited.  I get to throw something!!  She shows me three exercises I get to do for now.  One where I roll the ball up a wall, and two others where I throw the ball in an overhead bounce pass motion - one straight on and the other at an angle.  Baby steps, but so happy.

It is now 3:45pm, the end of my day at the Cedars campus.  I am ready to veg-out on the couch.