Red Devil! Received! Countdown to Drama Begins

At about 4 pm this afternoon, after many hours of "pre-meds" (the medicines they give by IV to prepare you for the chemo)...

BILL

GOT

THE

RED

DEVIL!

Adria is its nickname at the clinic (for Adriamycin) but its real name is, as you may recall, Doxyrubicin--referring to its AMAZING color!

It is exactly the color of pure ruby! The most beautiful chemo he's ever gotten.

They gave him two syringes of it, shooting it into the tube that they installed into his under-skin port on his chest. Each syringe takes 5 minutes. He felt nothing; no heat, no pain, no burning. Thank you ALL OF HEAVEN for that!

The nurse dresses up like she's doing brain surgery, to give this stuff, as it's so dangerous, and they had to drape things all over Bill so it wouldn't touch him.

Just before he got the Doxy, the head of the Chemo Center rolled up a stool, knee to knee with Bill (Bill was in his huge blue plastic lazy-boy chemo chair), and you know that when medical personnel get knee-to-knee with you, stuff's gonna be said.

The guy basically did his job. First, he asked what we knew, dispelled some fears that were unlikely to be grounded, but then, as is his duty, he told Bill the worst case scenarios.

Oh.

My.

Gosh.

We were both so freaked out after hearing what MIGHT happen, that afterwards, I honestly was staring into Bill's eyes, trying to read his expression: was he even going to receive this ONE TIME or just walk out right there.

He's brave. I am almost sure I would have walked.

They GUARANTEED that EVERY hair on his body is going to fall out, beard, hair, arms, completely hairless. Bill, of course always the comic, said, "Gee, I could've saved 5 bucks on that haircut I got yesterday."

I said, "Yeah, wash your car, it rains. Get a haircut, all your hair falls out."

Then they said he is DEFINITELY going to throw up and have dry heaves and the only variable will be whether he can survive that at home or whether he has to be hospitalized with IVs. They said they are giving him EVERY one of the MOST POTENT anti-nausea meds known to man, but that I should get him to the ER right away, if he starts continuous dry heaves.

He is also DEFINITELY going to be fatigued like he's never been in his life.

He is also DEFINITELY going to lose ALL his white blood cells and have to get a shot tomorrow that causes such intense bone pain that it requires the most powerful anti-pain medicine they can prescribe, in order for him to bear the pain.

OH. MY. CHIPMUNK. I AM SO FREAKED OUT.

OF MY MIND.

But Bill is calm! He was like, "Uh huh, yep, okay, uh huh, gotcha, good enough, okay, yep, thanks."

So he got the ruby devil, then the Gemzar, then we came home, and he had been given steroids which make him like he's high on happy drugs, so he was hilarious all the way home, criticizing my driving, and telling me that in 1927 they invented this thing called the TURN SIGNAL and why was I not aware of that, and so on. Honestly, I was laughing so hard at him, I could hardly drive. He was like in stand-up comedian mode.

Also? Right after the Doxy shot, he got HUNGRY! And has not been able to stop eating since the shot! WHAT??????????????????

So I'll end this here. He's in his bed, all comfy, all his supplies there, tons of anti-nausea meds lined up, that he has to wake up every 6 hours and take, for the next 3 days. They said, "Even if you throw them up, keep taking them." OMG.

So tomorrow afternoon, I drive him over for this shot that causes the unbearable bone pain. They said I should not even ATTEMPT the drive without throw-up bags, lots of them, in the car.

OMG.

I'm gonna be a great caregiver. I promise! But.....when other people throw up, I throw up. So it should be a mighty pretty little scene around here for the next, ohhhhhhhhh, TEN WEEKS! I might even lose the weight I've been fighting this year. Poor ole BillyBob is SURE to thin down.

Unless, by the grace of God, he's the one in a zillion who doesn't get these side effects. Gulp.

Until tomorrow, then, farewell.  I'll post late in the day tomorrow, probably.

Thank you for caring. Let's hope that, as much as WE hate the Doxyrubicin, the cancerous tumor hates it EVEN MORE!

Love to all,
Bethie