First Trip to the Chemo Clinic

There are some very interesting misconceptions about chemotherapy that can make your first trip to the chemo clinic a bit scary. People that have never had to deal with chemo have some pretty crazy thoughts about what it is like at a chemo clinic. My wife was expecting me to be in a lot of pain from the drugs as they were injected. My father told me he envisioned some sort of "lethal injection" type machine sitting next to a bed. Many of these ideas come from TV or movies, and until you have had your first treatment, you have nothing else to go off of.

The night before my first trip to the chemo clinic I did not get much sleep. My head was spinning with thoughts of what to expect the next day. I soon found out that all of my worry and apprehension was for nothing.

I met my chemo nurse shortly after we arrived at the clinic. Since I was the first patient of the day I got first choice of the chemo suites. Each suite resembled an over-sized office cubical with a recliner, a small table, and a chair for a friend or family member. The nurse sat down with my wife and I to go over the whole process. She gave us a very thorough explanation of each drug I would be given, its common side effects, and how it would be administered. Then she took an extra few minutes to answer all of our questions.

At that point it was time to get down to business. The chemo itself was a really simple process. The nurse hooked a line up to the port in my chest and hung the first IV bag. She returned once the bag was empty with 2 large syringes and a cup of ice. We were told that eating ice while the next drug was administered would reduce the chance of developing mouth sores by decreasing the blood flow to the area. The nurse slowly injected the 2 syringes of drugs while I chomped away on the ice and then an IV bag containing the 4th and final drug was set up. Once the last IV bag was empty, the nurse disconnected the lines and sent us on our way.

The whole process took about 4 hours but the amount of time varies depending on which chemo regimen you are on. The worst part of the whole thing was the boredom of having to just sit there for several hours. None of the drugs caused any pain or unexpected side effects for me. While everybody reacts to chemo differently, it seems like my experience was fairly normal. The other patients in the clinic looked just as pain free (and bored) as I was.

I felt pretty good for the rest of the day and most of the next before the side effects started to show up, but I'll save that story for next week.