Thursday-First Infusion

A restless night of sleep made me long for bedtime to be done. As soon as I felt I could get away with it, I left bed for good. It was about 5:00am.

Mandi woke as well, setting about her daily routine. Brush teeth, change into workout clothes, count out my pills remembering to account for me taking several off schedule last night. I leaned over onto some object in our bedroom in a position my doctor calls “tripodding”, it allows my lungs to fully expand so I can catch my breath. The morning went by in a blur, with Mandi heading down to the gym to get her workout done after she had dropped off my pharmaceutical breakfast. Dannon OIKOS drinkable Greek yogurt, an 8oz serving of apple juice with Miralax laxative mixed in, about 8 different pills, coffee and water. I choked down the breakfast and retreated to my extra plush blankey to watch more Seinfeld at 6am.

I was awoken again by the sound of the kids coming into the room. A sweet sound on any day, its inherent sweetness multiplied by the events of late. It was nearly time to leave for school, which meant that behind the kids, Mandi would be sure to follow. A whirlwind of excitement, laughter, yelling, showers, blow dryers, and electric toothbrush noises. Before I knew it, I was slowly dressing myself and giving goodbye hugs to Bode and Scarlett in the closet, having missed the deadline to be ready in time to walk them to school myself.

It had been a fast paced morning, for a Thursday, but a big day indeed. Thursday, September 19th 2024 would forever mark the day of my first chemotherapy infusion treatment. I struggled the majority of the time spent in the commute to UCLA’s facility, half of the time spent in pain and the other half just trying to organize my thoughts in any useful way. As a matter of fact, this post could have been finished that same day, under slightly different conditions.

Treatment Plan

My treatment plan consists of three parts. Chemotherapy, Immunotherapy, and Targeted Therapy.

The first thing to understand is that the term “chemotherapy” actually refers to a group of anti-cancer drugs that is developed to treat address cancer in a very specific manner. Even though there are other drugs that will be delivered to a patient during a “chemotherapy” infusion, only certain drugs are considered by the doctor to fall into the category of “Chemotherapy”.

Chemotherapy, in my case, is basically two different drugs, delivered intravenously at these things called “infusion appointments”. These chemicals are the ones typically responsible for classical chemotherapy side effects. The second group of drugs in my case would fall under the category of Immunotherapy Drugs, even though they are administered and delivered by the same methods and at the same time as the others.

The last and final group of weapons in the arsenal are drugs known as Targeted Therapy drugs, which are tailored specifically to my cancer’s genetic makeup and are “targeted” to treat it based on its specific features and chemical makeup. In my case, these treatments would not begin for several more weeks, since they are part of a clinical trial, but they will be a very important final component in my treatment plan.

Today’s Infusion

Today’s appointment began at 10am and was over by about 3pm. It consisted of blood work and labs as soon as I arrived at 10am to determine that I was healthy enough to receive the treatment, and they do this each time to ensure that they aren’t unsealing $20,000 worth of medication only to find out it cannot be used. I got the green light and eventually was moved into a spot by the window looking out over Santa Monica. Not the worst view.

As far as the actual “infusion” experience, I must say that it was rather pleasant. Something tells me that it was at least in part due to the several IV bags of fluid that were directly entering my bloodstream, never mind that some of them were basically poison. If I can give any advice to someone who is starting chemotherapy for the first time – go into it hydrated.

Other than that, Mandi and I made a day-date out of it. We packed some snacks and drinks, we found a decent little Mexican restaurant that was within walking distance of the clinic and I’m sure we will be regular customers there.

If only the days to follow could be a fraction as pleasant.