Treatment #3 and another “C” Word

I had my third treatment on March 24. I finally used my Lidocaine/Prilocaine Cream correctly. A nurse told me at my second treatment to put a dollop of the cream on my port and cover with press n seal 2 hours before appointment. It worked!! I didn’t feel anything when they accessed my port. I was anxious before this treatment because I was worried about how the blood clot would effect it and I wanted to sleep during the treatment so I asked them to switch up my meds and add Benadryl to help me sleep. They reduced the Ativan by half and added Benadryl and it worked great. My sister in law, Ashlyn drove me to my appointment. She stayed through the exam and helped me get the cap on and settled in my chair. I had a very nice nurse today who was a travel nurse. She was upfront and told me that she wasn’t familiar with the Paxman machine and she had asked someone else to help. That made me feel better. It was still uncomfortable during the first 10 minutes of the pre-cool but once the infusion started I fell asleep for about an hour. Then I watched a movie for the 90 minute post-cool. I felt sleepy most of the day but didn’t have that loopy feeling like a normally do with the full dose of Ativan. My Oncologist was impressed by how much hair I had retained. She believes if I hadn’t cold capped I would be completely bald. This was really encouraging to hear. 3 Treatments down and 5 to go!