Why doesn't alcohol come in other scents?

My treatment last Thursday SUCKED! Chemo days are always long days, but in addition to treatment, I was also seeing my oncologist. I'm not sure what it was exactly, but I threw up several times that day. I went in at noon to have my blood drawn for lab work as usual. I was a bit nervous because more often than not, they have trouble accessing my port and the fact that I nearly threw up from the saline and/or heparin they push through it during my previous treatment. I noticed immediately that just the smells of the hospital, such as alcohol wipes or alcohol-based cleaning products or "clean" as Maria calls the smell, starts making me feel queasy. (Note to Self: Start bringing spray air freshener along to treatments.) I explained to the nurse how I nearly tossed my cookies two weeks earlier so she agreed to push the saline in slowly. It helped, but I did still taste it, especially at the end when she had to push faster to clear the blood out of the IV line. After the saline flush, they inject heparin, which helps prevent blood clots from forming in the port line. The heparin tastes like the saline, only worse. I made it out of the lab without vomiting, although I could tell I was not out of the clear yet.

We had almost an hour until I saw Dr. Fenske so Maria and I left the hospital and went to Bruegger's Bagels nearby so I could eat lunch. I thought I would be fine, but it hit me in the parking lot before we went inside to eat. I threw up. Luckily, not much came up since I had barely eaten anything for breakfast. The good thing was that the parking lot was behind the store, so I wasn't vomiting on Wisconsin Ave. at least. I was embarrassed a bit though when I saw a couple people come around the corner to the lot just in time to witness me puking. I probably ruined their lunch.

As usual, the doctor's office was behind. My appointment was scheduled for 1pm. I think the nurse practitioner, Julie, came in around 1:45pm. She asked me the normal questions. I explained how I had been feeling like crap lately, even on the days where I normally feel great. She checked my blood test results and everything looked normal. I also told her how I was becoming more sensitive to the saline and heparin and how I threw up after having my blood drawn. She suggested I take a lorazepam prior to coming to chemo as nausea can be triggered by many things.

After Julie left the room, it was approximately 10 more minutes before Dr. Fenske came in to talk to me. He didn't really tell me anything new, but he did clarify the results from my last PET scan a bit. He said while the CT portion of the scan showed a small amount of cancer still, the PET scan was "negative." I asked if that meant that I was cancer-free. He didn't come right out and say I was cancer-free, but said that sometimes the CT scan shows lymph nodes that just stay swollen or possible scar tissue. He explained the PET scan shows "active cancer," which in my case, was negative. So that's good to know. Plus, I'll have had 4 more chemo treatments after that scan, so I should really be in good shape then. He set me up to have my next PET scan in the beginning of December, which will be around 6 weeks after I'm finished with radiation.

After my appointment with Dr. Fenske, we headed to chemo. Of course, even though we were late (due to the doctor's office running late), I still had to wait around a bit. The chemo itself went normally, but when it was almost over, I went to use the bathroom, and began throwing up. It really sucked and it just kept coming. When I was finished, the nurse gave me more fluids through my IV and ordered me some liquid lorazepam from the pharmacy to inject in me. Eventually we left and I laid down on the sofa almost immediately after getting home.

Later that night, I did not feel good whatsoever. I had the chills and was super cold. I took my temperature and it was 99.5, so I knew I had a touch of a fever. I fell asleep on the couch after awhile and woke up extremely hot and sweaty. I took my temperature again and it had rose to 100.3. I knew if it got to 100.5 or higher I would have to call the hospital, per their standard instructions. I started to cool down almost immediately after waking up though, so I didn't have to.

Since then, I've been trying to take it easy so that I don't feel so exhausted all the time. I think my usual schedule of feeling yucky for a week followed by a week of feeling normal has ended. I'm trying not to run myself down by doing too much, which is not always easy since I have stuff I want to or need to get done. The next few days won't be easy because we have our charity yard sale and lemonade stand benefiting the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society this Saturday and I still haven't started getting things together for it. But, I know in the end, it will come together somehow. Hopefully we will have a good turnout and good weather. My friend Jada is trekking down from Port Washington to join us. I'm really looking forward to it.

The good news for me is that I only have one more chemotherapy treatment left. I'm so happy because I can only imagine the chemo getting harder and harder to deal with from this point on. Even today, nearly a week after chemo, I still feel nauseous at times. Certain smells and thoughts trigger it. It was even hard to type some of this post at times. I know I still have radiation treatments coming soon, but at this point, I'm almost welcoming the change.