Packed

well I’m almost ready. After Friday’s infusion of rituximab and a weekend with sprained esphogus from the Benadryl drip I’m packed and ready to go to the hospital on Tuesday.

fridays infusion would have been relatively painless if the nurse would have listened to me before she got started. You see, I get a strong reaction to Benadryl in an IV drip. It’s like im on an upside rollercoaster for hours. Now don’t get me wrong in my younger days I loved that feeling of dizziness from rides and coasters but this is more like dizziness on the ocean waves. And you can’t stop it. I grabbed on to the chair in the infusion center for dear life. I was just saying to the nurse I can’t tolerate IV Benadryl when she started the drip. No matter how slow she made it the dizziness wouldn’t stop until finally I vomited. Then everyone was all worried and came running with an anaphylactic kit incase I had a severe reaction. Well I had a reaction the vomiting was empty vomit (no food just saliva) and it literally strained my neck and esophagus. The next two days I have a lump at the bottom of my throat so I can only eat soup or mush. I’m hoping it goes away tomorrow but today the mucus also started coming. No amount of Afrin or zyrtec has stopped it from flowing. Argh. its like I have two good days and then it’s over. I need to get to feeling better but I know that’s going to be a while.

Tuesday starts the six days of destruction I’ve been talking about. Yes I’m scared of the unknown but have little choices. So

today I packed my bag for the hospital. What does one take? Seven pairs of pjs; underwear and more; it’s like planning for a cruise to no where. Toiletries, and of course technology - today we bought the essentials: pop tarts and ramen (sounds more like dorm food).

at this point I just want to get it over. Wish me luck.