12.01.06

5:20am
The incision on my tummy has healed nicely, and today is the day to remove the staples. A doctor came bright and early, like he promised, to remove the staples and to put a
needle in the portal.
The removal of staples was easy breezy.
He pressed down on the plastic disk to find the correct location for insertion. I could feel his hands narrowing down the possibilities and finally zeroed in on one spot. Once he found it, he told me to take a deep breath and pushed the needle in with force. It felt..... I don't know.... it stung a bit, but it didn't hurt as I thought it would.

Bill was holding my hand while the doctor made the insertion. As soon as the doctor started to tape me up, he squeezed my hand and said he would be right back.
Turned out, he thought he was about to faint, not from watching the insertion but from the sudden urge to run to the bathroom. It hit him so hard and sudden that he thought he's collapse before getting the the bathroom in time.
The curry in the food court of Fareastern Mall did it to him.

14:20pm
The nurse came in and said that we should start putting saline in. I thought I'd feel it going in but I didn't.
Dawn came to visit.
My doctor came to visit and he recommended purchasing the shots to prevent vomitting.
I also asked some other questions.

Kate: "Can I drink? I mean, at X'mas and New Year. You know.... like wine or beer?"
Dr: "Yeah. A little is okay. I don't want to turn your life black and white, you know?" (a
Chinese expression meaning a colorless life)
Kate: "What about my diet? Should I eat anything special?"
Dr: "Try to eat natural and healthy things such as eggs and carrots. Stay away from
processed food, like Burger King. It is not really good for you."
Bill: "But it's so good. I can't believe there's a Burger King in the hospital."
Dawn: "It's for the family."
Dr: "It's for kids."
Bill: "I'm a kid. What are you trying to say?"
Dr: (while looking at Dawn) "Well, if we define people who are not married as kids, that
makes sense."

What the doctor didn't know was that Dawn's not married and I had Burger King for dinner that night.

22:10pm
So far, they've given me 3 bags of "Ringers" solution, an anti-vomit and an anti-allergy shot, and 2 shots of Chemo. I'm now hooked up to a bottle of Chemo and a machine that regulates the drop rate.

I'm feeling a bit woozy. My left arm is a bit warm and numb. Periodically I feel my stomach turning, but not quite strong enough to make me vomit. In fact, I kind of feel a bit hungry.

I'm warm.

I try to keep my mind off of it by writing the experience down. I'd like to think it's helping.

They took the bandage off my wound and replaced it with tapes that will help it heal pretty.
One thing off the list of concerns.

Had a little scare just now. As I wrote, I noticed a lot of small bubbles in the tube going into my body. Bill and I called the nurse over to fix it. The nurse said it wouldn't be dangerous as long as the quantity of bubbles stays under 10 c.c. She didn't seem to be concerned.

We decided to keep an eye on the nurse.

23:20pm
I finished my first Chemo.
My Next Mission: 500 c.c. of urine in the next 4 hours.