Thursday, May 14, 2009

It rained hard on Tuesday, just under 2 inches. Wednesday night into Thursday morning it rained even harder. At one point our sump pump ran non-stop. I was up for a few hours to make sure it would hold out. It did. I went to bed. Sandy had already fallen asleep. By morning, we'd had little sleep and 2.3 inches more of rain.

We awoke this morning at 5:00 am after having gotten to sleep at about 1:30 am. It is Chemo Day 3, so we leave at 6 to get to UCMC by around 7 to find on-street parking. Chemo starts at 8, or at least that's when we get called into the infusion area. Sandy didn't start getting infused until nearly 9:30 am. It takes 3 hours for the paclitaxel, 1 hour for the carboplatin, then home. Sandy gets several other drugs in addition to these, one of which is Benadryl.

Sandy has restless legs syndrome (RLS). This means she has an irresistable urge to walk or move her legs. Sitting still is not an option. The Benadryl aggravates her RLS, so sitting for the infusion is a kind of torture; not because of the cancer drugs but because of the Benadryl.

This morning the nurse suggested Sandy take the Benadryl by mouth rather than in an IV drip. She did this and has not been bothered with the RLS. I think this was a major change in treatment and one that will make the day much more tolerable for her. And this is a good thing. With so little sleep last night, she needs to be comfortable.

Okay, I spoke too soon. Even the Benadryl taken by mouth has begun to aggravate her RLS, so she took a Mirapex to alleviate the symptoms. It didn't hurt that nurse Connie stopped by and the two women talked like magpies about their Nintendo DS's loaded with something called Touchmaster. I think Sandy forgot about her RLS.

Here's Sandy working on some shuteye: