Chemo Round 2

Fantastically uneventful is how I describe these days of doctor visits, treatments or procedures that go well. With no horrible pain, side effects or incompetent idiots (aka doctors or nurses) Today was awesome if you can say that about a chemo round.

Mom and I took the 6:30 jitney to 67th street and walked to Sloan. I did the routine of giving blood, meeting the oncologist giving him the 21 day update. Ali arrived and then we were sent off to wait for a spot in the chemo suites. The wait is about 2 hours...of nerve wracking impatience but all in all not that bad. We hung out in the sunny cafeteria and drank some tea.

I became antsy so we went back upstairs to wait. First person I see is Karim BenAwand who I haven't seen in at least 25 years. He joined us as I checked into my "room" at around 11:45am. Karim and I connected on FB along with the rest of Bay Shore High School.. and I learned he worked at Sloan. What I didn't know is that he's a Pharmaceutical Oncologist. Which to my surprise means that he's the guy who mixed my R-CHOP chemo for the day. How cool to know the guy who mixed my drugs.. I just love it. And because of Karim's positive energy and spirit. I had no side effects AT ALL! Yay!

Karim hung out for a bit..Mom, Alison I chatted and I started on my drips. There was a bit of concern because the port wasn't working properly and things were delayed an hour.. but we figured out that I need to lie flat in order to make the blood flow and then all was fine. Lynne arrived shortly after we did..because she's awesome, then Joanna showed up with bags of Sun Chips (I heart sun chips) she told stories and kept us laughing. Then Nicole arrived to add to the fun...by then I was high on Benedryl.

All of us sitting and laughing and catching up. It was great if only we were at a good restaurant instead of Sloan. It felt like ladies lunching not visiting a chemo patient. Good day! We only got yelled at once for being too loud.



After the girls left Mom, Ali and I opened our laptops and got some work done.


Then Lisa Overton was super sweet to come visit after a root canal. She brought her friend Doug.

By 5:30 we were out the door and piled into Ali's car happily I felt completely normal. We hit PinkBerry and droped Lisa off ..then Ali got the Expressway. We were at Love Lane Kitchen for dinner by 9pm. The sweet happy faces and good food at the restaurant were a perfect end to a potentially super shitty day.

*Doug as he's meant to be seen. Like most actors Doug looks best on camera.