16th Herceptin Infusion

Wow! I can't believe that I have gone through this 16 times already. That is a lot of trips to the infusion room. Pat, who is usually my nurse now, and I have this down to a routine. I put on the Imla at home to numb the area around my port. Pat takes it from there. She removes the steritape from over the port and counts 1, 2, 3. On three, I take a deep breath and she sticks the needle into the port. I feel just a slight pinch. The port is then flushed with Saline and I get hooked up to a Saline drip. Pat takes the order for the Herceptin to the pharmacist who then prepares my dose. The Herceptin bag is then hooked up to the pump which is hooked up to my port and proceeds to drip the Herceptin into my veins for 1/2 hour until the bag is empty. Another 1/2 hour on the Saline to make sure I am properly hydrated and don't get a fever and then Pat flushes the port with the blood thinner, Heparin, counts to 3 again, I take another deep breath and she pulls the needle out. A tiny, circular bandaid is then placed over the needle prick and off I go home, stopping at the coffee cart to get a Cafe Mocha on the way. Sounds simple and it is but the whole process, including seeing the doctor, takes about 3 hours (1/2 a day). I am usually tired afterwords and have muscle fatigue in my hips, buttocks and thighs from the delivery agent in the Herceptin.

Only 2 more of these to go! And then I am finished with my treatments. Still one more heart scan (September) and 2 more surgeries (2006-7) to go but all minor compared to what I have completed already. Oh, and my blood counts have come back some - white and red are both in the range, though on the low end. The hemoglobin, hematocrit and iron counts are still below normal although they are slowly crawling back up to where they should be. I imagine I will continue to feel some fatigue until they come all the way back.

It is still unreal to think of almost being done with this whole adventure. I am looking forward to it but also feel a little bit of loss not to have to be doing this "job" of managing my health every day. Whew! Time for a new job and hope this one (Cancer) never comes calling for me again.