My Life As A New Mommy & Multiple Myeloma Warrior: Melphalan

Waiting to start everything

Today was my last chemo before my transplant. We got to the Cancer Center (we took the 5 minute walk across the street) and got to my room where I was started on saline. Not like I wasn't on enough already since I have that awesome hydration on wheels like I did about a month ago. I've had to use the restroom probably every 90 minutes to 2 hours. But, it's good. Keeping my hydrated is keep the chemo going through me. It won't sit in my bladder and give me an infection. A little bit after the hydration started, I was given Zofran IV. A smaller bag than I am used to when I go in for these appointments here. Then, I was given Decadron. Another anti nausea medicine. A steroid anti nausea. At the same time as I got that, I started chewing and sucking on ice. The reason for the ice is to kill off any receptors in my mouth so the chemo didn't give me mouth sores. That wouldn't be good if I got any. The mouth sores could cause me to get an infection then fever which would have me admitted to the hospital. Not going to do that.

Saline and Zofran

About 30 minutes or so later I was started on the Melphalan chemo. Throughout the Melphalan I still sucked and chewed on ice. The Melphalan went through for about 30 minutes. Probably the fastest chemo I have had through IV. The time today went really fast. Felt like we were in and out of there. Which was nice. I was still able to walk home. It's only a 5 minute walk, like I said before. And, today wasn't as hot as it was yesterday. So, Eric and I took our time. The only thing with me is, I have to wear the Darth Vader mask (my HEPA mask) and it makes it harder to breath. But, I still want to get some kind of a workout in. We will have to wait and see how I feel on Monday after my transplant. May have to have Eric come back to the apartment and bring the car over. We shall see how I feel afterwards.

Ice chips

Cold mouth full of ice chips

Well, so far so good though. I'm not really having any side affects yet. Which is good. I know come Monday, or a few days after, I will be really tired. My nurse today said I will most likely be resting a lot. She also said that wait until about day +11 or so after transplant to start getting some exercise since I will most likely start to feel better then. We just need to wait until my white blood cells come back up and my immune system is ok before I am released to go back to our home. I think what we will definitely do is leave the day after I am cleared to go home. That way we don't have to worry about traffic since all of my appointments are in the afternoons.

Melphalan Chemo

So, for now, we relax. Make this apartment our home away from home. And wait for my rebirth day. Then, we wait for my white blood cells to come back up. I can't wait for all of this to be over and be back to normal. But I won't rush it.