It was Monday. Chemo would start in her IV today. How would Mom react to it? Would she throw up? Would she get tired? Will it get worse with every treatment? So far, the only answer to any of those questions was "It's hard to say, everyone is different and reacts differently."
In preparation for the chemo, Mom got a flu shot and pneumonia shot. In 61 years, she had never had a flu shot! She also got some Benedryl and a steroid in her IV - to counter act the side effects of the chemo. But if they won't tell us what side effects she'll have, how can they medicate them?
At 4:00 p.m. Donna, her nurse, came in wearing a mask, 3 pairs of gloves and a splatter apron. She was holding the chemo. It was a bright orange bag. She said it would take about 20 minutes to drip through the IV. That's not too bad. I thought it took hours and hours and she would get weaker and weaker with every drop, but of course, everyone is different. As Donna hung the bag and stuck it in her IV, I had that feeling of when you take your kids to the doctor and they have to get a shot. You have to hold their chubby, baby legs down while the nurse stabs the needle in. It hurts you more than it hurts them. They need the medicine, but isn't there a better, easier way? Did they really have to put that bag of bright orange poison into my mom's veins? Isn't there a better, easier way to treat this disease?
Twenty minutes of dripping went by. No puking. No tired-ness, No swelling. Nothing. In fact, she was much more alert and attentive after it was done. The steroid had kicked in!
So, that was pretty uneventful. Pretty easy. And we don't have to do it again until Wednesday.
Dr. Jeong had said he would stop in and see her today. By 7:00 p.m. we had given up on that. But never underestimate Dr. Jeong. If he says he will do something, he does it. It will be on his time frame, but it will get done. At 9:45 p.m. he came to visit. He sat down and talked to mom about everything that had taken place so far and what would happen next. He said the chemo pills were working like they should (boosting the white blood cells to mature which stops the cycle of producing immature white blood cells) and now the liquid chemo would start doing its job (to kill all the white blood cells: to kill the immature ones, you have to kill them all). He explained the treatment again: 3-4 rounds of M, W, F, Su IV chemo then 4 weeks off. During those 4 weeks, she will have her blood tested M, W, F. She will probably go home after Sundays chemo and recover there. WHAT? I thought we were staying for 30 days here at the hospital? There was no talk of "IF." He said "Leukemia I can fix, but infection can cause death." So, all we need to do in the next 4 weeks is not get an infection. He had a very positive outlook. "Side-effects will be rough, but you can get through it. It will be ok."
Those were the magic words spoken by Dr. Jeong. Very different than his first talk. I think he was preparing us for the unexpected. But Mom was a tough bird. She is good health, only 61 years young and they had caught the leukemia very early. Most of the time people show symptoms or collapse from exhaustion and then discover it. Hers was found by accident in a blizzard by her OB/GYN. After that night I think we all had a new outlook. We weren't out of the woods, and we have a long way to go. So, what are we waiting for? We had been in shock, cried our eyes out for a couple days, now it's time to kick this leukemia!
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