Back on Track - November 26, 2010

A had told Pete to arrive at NYU Cancer Center early so we left home about 6:15 AM. As we were driving out of our neighborhood I wondered out loud about the traffic, hoping that people may have taken a long holiday weekend. Our hopes were up that this was the case as we headed North along with just a few cars on the GSP. The usual bottleneck onto the NJ Tpk was no where to be found, Exit 14 was empty and there was virtually no traffic leading into the Holland Tunnel. We walked up to the security desk a few minutes before 8 and were told we'd have to sit in the lobby until 8:30 before we went upstairs since the treatment area doesn't officially open until then.

Pete's nurse for today was MM, attentive, attractive and very personable. Pete's port didn't want to cooperate when she tried for the blood return, so she decided to just hook him up to the saline until A gave directions on what to do with the remaining chemo and pump. She came back in a short time later, tried for a blood return again and wonder or wonders, it worked and gave up 4 test tubes of blood. Until they got the results, though, Pete was just in a holding pattern and just getting a small bag of fluid.

 A came in after a while and told us the results were good and that the pharmacy was resetting the pump to pick up where it had left off. In the mean time, she wanted Pete to get a large bolus of hydration and an extra bag of Mesna (anti emetic) before they hooked him back up to the pump. The hydration is a 4 hour bag, the Mesna is 1 hour and we'd already been there a little over an hour. I went out around noon for a walk and picked up some lunch for us from a deli on my way back.

Pete was finished and all hooked up shortly after 3 PM. MM taped the leads from the pump to the port so it hopefully won't be unhooking itself again unexpectedly. Traffic was almost as light on the way home as it had been in the morning. We pulled into the garage a little past 5. As of today the schedule will have us going back on Monday for blood work and then again on Wednesday for more blood work and also to get a new pump with the next 8-day chemo supply. That's all for now.