Update on Andy Long--1/20/2011-started chemo
Yesterday was Andy's start day for chemo. And as we stepped off the elevator onto the 2nd floor of the Hollings Cancer Center, everyone, and I do mean everyone, had positive attitudes and smiles on their faces and greeted everyone they came across with joviality...it was gloomy outside, but not inside this place...It was my first time to enter one of these facilities, and I thought about how we drive by them all the time, read the name on the building and don't give it much thought after that ...and as I sat their with Andy waiting for him to be called back for lab work, and then waiting to see the doctor and then waiting to be called back from the infusion waiting room, I look around at all the people waiting, and there's usually a set of two, and it hits you that they are all here for the same reason...Cancer...and my heart had an enormous heaviness to it and tears welled up in my eyes...I had to pinch myself so I would not burst out crying. You sit there and you listen as some tell their stories, some don't say a word, and realize there's a lot of inner strength there in those rooms...Then they call you back to begin your infusion,,,, it's real quiet at first, they have you sit in a recliner, get the IV going and you're given instructions by your nurse, told how long it should take and what to expect from your chemo meds and I tried to think of these "poisonous chemicals" entering Andy's body as "his medicine" to make him well. Then you start to pay more attention to the people around you and some are chatty Cathy's and some are not, and the talkative ones speak of their experiences there, etc. Then when your treatment is over, you leave...and it's like walking back into "your" life, your regular routine, etc...as I put the cancer center in a special compartment in my mind...as we are heading home now and you try to keep everything as "normal" as always! Overall our "first" day of treatment went well. His infusion nurse was "Karen" which was the best sign ever as that is my most wonderful daughter-in-law's name and she has the same job...of hopefully administering a "cure", only she works with children. I'm sure Andy will eloquently write of his first day and expand on his slight sensitivity to cold, etc. Take care everyone, Carol
Yesterday was Andy's start day for chemo. And as we stepped off the elevator onto the 2nd floor of the Hollings Cancer Center, everyone, and I do mean everyone, had positive attitudes and smiles on their faces and greeted everyone they came across with joviality...it was gloomy outside, but not inside this place...It was my first time to enter one of these facilities, and I thought about how we drive by them all the time, read the name on the building and don't give it much thought after that ...and as I sat their with Andy waiting for him to be called back for lab work, and then waiting to see the doctor and then waiting to be called back from the infusion waiting room, I look around at all the people waiting, and there's usually a set of two, and it hits you that they are all here for the same reason...Cancer...and my heart had an enormous heaviness to it and tears welled up in my eyes...I had to pinch myself so I would not burst out crying. You sit there and you listen as some tell their stories, some don't say a word, and realize there's a lot of inner strength there in those rooms...Then they call you back to begin your infusion,,,, it's real quiet at first, they have you sit in a recliner, get the IV going and you're given instructions by your nurse, told how long it should take and what to expect from your chemo meds and I tried to think of these "poisonous chemicals" entering Andy's body as "his medicine" to make him well. Then you start to pay more attention to the people around you and some are chatty Cathy's and some are not, and the talkative ones speak of their experiences there, etc. Then when your treatment is over, you leave...and it's like walking back into "your" life, your regular routine, etc...as I put the cancer center in a special compartment in my mind...as we are heading home now and you try to keep everything as "normal" as always! Overall our "first" day of treatment went well. His infusion nurse was "Karen" which was the best sign ever as that is my most wonderful daughter-in-law's name and she has the same job...of hopefully administering a "cure", only she works with children. I'm sure Andy will eloquently write of his first day and expand on his slight sensitivity to cold, etc. Take care everyone, Carol
