Dawn and I had gone to the San Diego fair last month.It's a yearly tradition of ours.The pictures you saw in the 'ABOUT US' section were taken in successive years."We should get your Johnny Depp costume while we're here," Dawn suggested as we trailed the mazes of booths, selling everything from sunglasses to Snugwows.We had bought simple props for our Halloween Costumes -- we're big on Halloween.I would be Duke Raul from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Dawn, like most females, loves Johnny Depp…because he looks like me…hehe).
I still didn't feel like I was a cancer patient, but after making the treatment decision last night, I was one step closer.I decided that Halloween would come early this year.The costume felt right.The fishing hat fit the stereotype and the glasses were a shade of yellow that masked my jaundiced eyes.Duke Raul was on the prowl.I felt like a new soul.
But this new soul had a tough night, as Thursday was a hard pill to swallow. I was atop the craziest roller coaster ride of my life, about to start a treatment I was familiar with by name only. We often hear of chemo.We associate it with cancer and baldness.Other than that, most of us have no idea what it consists of.I was a patient...and I still had no idea what it was.What is chemo?What am I getting into?
My dad and I arrived at 10:00am for the first session. We were led to the very back of the Care Center where there was a decent sized room with about 15 recliners.Half of them were occupied.My dad and I took a seat at the edge of the room.I noticed each patient had an IV on rollers next to them. Their IV lines disappeared into their chest.I wasn't sure why. As I contemplated the thought, two very friendly nurses introduced themselves.It was hard to understand them through their thick Japanese and Chinese accent.I only caught one of their names: Sume's [Sue Me]. She explained the process and side effects of chemo.I didn't have the heart to tell her I couldn't understand what she was saying.I only had one question."Where do you place the IV?"I motioned to my chest.To my relief, she grabbed my wrist, looked around and pointed to a vein on my forearm."Goud veins you have," She said.
She rolled the IV next to the recliner and poked me.She pointed at the smaller of the two clear bags “This Zafron.Anti-nausea.”I could read the other bag. It was your standard IV fluid with…electrolytes.She then hung a pink hued pint on the other side."Thees is Doxeeel.Chemo," she said.
I relaxed as I the first bag drained into my system.As soon as it was done, I saw the pink drug slowly snaking its way through the loops in the IV tube.AS it neared my arm, the tube began to look like Viper, the roller coaster at Magic Mountain.It hit my vein.Five seconds afterward I felt a sharp pain in my lower back.I pulled the recliner upright.It felt like my kidneys were inflating.The pain quickly subsided.It must have been a side effect to my anticipation.The mind can be a powerful foe.
The treatment lasted two hours.I took a nap, read War and Peace, and caught up on some more work.I even had time to snack in between.I didn't feel any immediate side effects.I did receive a very minimal dose.I had learned from a patient sitting that he was on a much more rigorous chemo therapy: five days a week, eight hours a day, every other week, for six months.He was young man, no older than 30.He looked very healthy, but had lost his hair.I was exposed to the realities of chemo.I was eager to see my bodies reaction and blood reports come over the next week.
When I got home I checked the Jet Blue fare.It was now $99.Still 18 seats open.I'm not budging.