Navelbine #2, day 2

Things took a little longer than expected yesterday. Due to the MLK holiday, there was very little parking in on the street and we drove around a while looking for a spot. My appointment was later in the morning, and so the lab and the Cancer Institute in general were busier. Still, the lab finished my blood work in relatively quick time, and I was sitting in the chemo chair only a half-hour later than my appointment. Then the pharmacy never got the fax from the lab, indicating that they should make up my drug. The nurse realized something was wrong and 45 minutes later, I was getting the Navelbine. By the time I was finished, many of the nurses were extremely busy with other patients, so I had to wait. All in all, we left the Cancer Institute at 1:45 PM and went straight to get some lunch at Mediterranean Kitchen. Then we ran one errand downtown.

It was almost 4 PM by the time we got home, and I collapsed on the sofa for a nice, two hour-plus nap. It was a good thing Rik and I had both eaten that big, late lunch, because I didn't really want any dinner. We relaxed for the rest of the evening and I woke up this morning feeling fine. My cold feels almost over!

I'll be off to the Cancer Institute today for a shot of Neulasta, a drug that will keep my white blood cell count up. Although my counts weren't especially low yesterday (right on the border for normal), Dr G doesn't want to take any chances that this second dose of Navelbine will drop the counts further.

Next week is the week off, so no chemo then. Here's hoping for highly effective, well-tolerated and with minimal side effects.