Chemo #4

This morning I went to my heart rehab class an hour early so I could exercise before my chemo treatment. The class afterwards was on eating out. I did NOT share that I had had ribs and nachos over the weekend. That is between me and my heart. :-) More on that later....

After rehab I tootled over to the Estabrooke Cancer Center, had my labs drawn and then headed up to Dr. Silverbergs office for my 4th chemo infusion. The nurse decided to run the pre-drugs (they help with side effects) and then the Aredia (the bone strengthener) first since it was going to be some time before the chemo was sent up from the pharmacy. She was trying to save me some time - which I appreciate! I had purchased a decaf coffee and a scone (another dietary no, no, I am sure) so was sipping and nibbling away. The pre- drugs kicked in (they make me sleepy) so I dozed for a spell. I got up to go to the restroom and the nurse said she was ready to start the chemo drugs when I got back. As I returned to the infusion chair I felt my heart start to whir. Great. I waited for a few minutes and then called the nurse over. She took my pulse and agreed with me, but said my heart wasn't racing. I was surprised, as usually my heart races and then goes into A Fib. In retrospect I shouldn't have been so trusting and gone ahead and popped a rapid heart beat pill like I did on Saturday night. I think a heart pulse in A Fib is hard to count since your heart will go beat......beat, beat, beat, beat.....................beat. She told the doc I was having heart issues, so he ordered an EKG, but gave the OK to continue with the infusion. I knew he would as I arrived at my second chemo while in full fledged Atrial Fib. There is not much that will stop these treatments - which is a good thing! I have my summer life already arranged around the present treatment times!

The EKG confirmed I was in A Fib (no kidding - my heart was flopping around like a fish) and that my pulse was 120. I took a couple of my recovery pills - but they didn't help - I think I just waited too long - live and learn. My heart finally settled down at 3:00 - five hours total of being 'upset' - which is fairly typical. Now, I am just tired.

Once my heart calmed down I headed to the store and then made an easy supper of frozen raviola and Emiril's sauce - but otherwise I have been pretty wimpy. The good news is - because of how the nurse infused me, we know that is wasn't the chemo drugs that caused the A-Fib! So, now what caused it? Did Sean, the nice Crane coffee guy at the hospital, give me regular coffee? Did the Aredia get me? The pre-chemo drugs? Oh cripes - who knows?!?!?! It would sure be nice to have an easy answer rather than just my messed up body!!!! :-)

Observation - what is it about some movies that make us want to watch them over and over? When our kids were little they could watch the same movie a couple times a day, day after day if I would let them. But, Mark and I are just as bad. We both love 'O Brother Where Art Thou' and will watch it on CD or catch parts when it is on TV and laugh in anticipation of upcoming scenes. I could watch 'When Harry Met Sally', 'You've Got Mail' or 'Sleepless in Seattle' a couple times a year, I think. With this in mind, I guess I can't get on Mark too much for watching 'The Greatest Game Ever Played' for like, the fourth time this month, but, it does make me laugh. I guess we are all creatures of habit. If we like something - we like something. At least it's not Dirty Harry!