Herceptin Treatment #2

No photo shoot at this one....forgot the camera. My first weekly Herceptin treatment could have gone just a bit smoother, but then again, if there was no drama associated with it, I would have questioned the event! When Charlie and I arrived at Oncology at 8:50, there was a line to check in and barely a chair in the waiting area. Weigh in (lost a little) and blood pressure check in, and it was off to Chemo Pod #3 for the morning. I had a great location. The only chair in the pod with a window view and the chair was turned to face the window instead of the other patients. I'm trying to figure out how I can reserve the location for the next 3 months! Had a successful IV insertion, but there was a problem with my IV tree and that had to be switched out, so that the saline could be started. I shared my bone pain tale with the nurse and learned the reason - my white blood cell count was 37,000 - a typical count would be between 5,000 and 10,000 - so clearly my bones had been busy! The pharmacist delivered the Herceptin and I was promptly hooked up for my half hour drip. Charlie went to get coffee and I thought we'd be ready to leave by the time he got back. Not so fast.....come to find out, for about 45 minutes the Herceptin wasn't actually dripping after all, so the drip didn't start until Charlie came back with the cofee. We finally left at about 12:30. So that's 3.5 hours for a 1/2 drip every Wednesday for the next 3 months and then once every 3 weeks for the next 9 months.....of course, the good news is that chemotherapy patients have free parking - something which thrills my husband to no end. For months he's been asking at every department at the hospital if they validate.