Chemo day

i had chemo on tuesday and this is how the long day goes!

6.00am wake up soo tired from lack of sleep ( i dont sleep the best anymore)
have a shower get dressed,

6.20 in the car driving to Newtown/Camperdown/Redfern where ever you like to say RPA is

8.10 arive at the carpark

8.10 check into the heamatology unit, they get my blood order ready and put me in the cue for the blood sisters. im behind 12 people. blood test have to be run before i see my doctor so she can order the right doese of chemo and check my white cells if they are too low my chemo gets delayed. they are very busy since its tuesday a popular chemo day and the receptionist and the nurses are arguing

8.20 after checking in the waiting room is filled and im starving because i have 12 people in front of me i go and have some bacon and eggs in the cafeteria sooo yum.

8.40 i finish breakfast and head back to the waiting room. i play brain trainging on my ds and listening to the young copules conversation, they are lucky if they are 20 and have just started dating.

9.15 i get called in for my blood test. exciting they use they butterfly shringe so it dosnt hurt and i let them take it out of my right arm.

9.30 peter (adrians dad) arrives

10.00ish i go see my doctor, claire my doctor is on holidays so i have registar (if you watch american medical shows our versions of residents) her name is ming hou.
she checks me out and orders my chemo and all the anti nausea drugs whiuch is confusing for both of us since she hasnt done mine before.

10.30 we head over to the page building. this is where the out patient chemist is and where i need to get some of my anti nausea drugs and my white cell injection from. the page building is a decrepit and depressing building i hate going into and im glad that the heamotologist unit has been moved to the main building now ( not that i ever went there when heam was in the page building)
the way the chemist is run is toatly maronic!
there is 3-4 chemist working at any one time.
you go up to the in conter if no one is there you take a number, then you wait to be called, you then take your script hand it in get a new number and a docket and go to the cashiers counter and pay for the drugs. you can only pay cash or credit (who dosent own a eftpost machine these days?) then you wait while the chemist gets your order ready.
okay that description doesnt sound long. but it is. the chemist are soo rude and if you dont know the procedure they yell at you. there is a sign above the in counter explaining the procedure and that the wait is 45mins. ha on a good day.
i walk in and its packed!! i take a number, yea its one and wait probably 20-30 mins to be called up. then step over to the cashier who takes about 10mins (i swear she was soooo slow!) to wright the numbers down from the credit card (they do this because lack of eftpost machine!)
i take a new number 35 and sit back down. the guy next to me has number 29, 10 mintues later they call out number 24! oh my god its 11.10 am i ever going to leave the page building?!
there is an anoying 3 yr old with his mum who keeps yelling and peter and i start joking with this lady who just came in about how long it takes in here.

11.50 i leave peter to pick up the meds and fill my other script at the normal chemist and head up to glouster house ( its now a house. its a building next to RPA and is sydney cancer clinic the chemo suit is on level 5.)
i check in at reception and make an appointment for a fornights time then go up to to check in with the chemo nurses and give them my medical chart.
there is a small problem with my med order i take Emend (anti nausea drug) an hour before chemo then two days after and ming has order the wrong dosage of emend so the nurse has to get her to fix it.
12.15 i take my emend and wait while doing mega hard sudukos and the chemo pharmacy starts making my chemo
1.00 peter arrives he finally got out of the page building! i check my drugs and realise i was only giving 4 antivan which covers 2 days and i need enough to cover me for the fornight. i call heam and page ming to come up with a new script for antivan.
now my chemo is a special chemo (its an agressive form called ABVD, its made up of 4 diffrent drugs) so i need accreditated nurses to give it to me. and there is only 2-3 nurse who work there that are accreditated to give me my chemo.
1.30 my chemo is ready and taking away to be put in line
1.45 i check on my progress , im next but i need to wait for the my nurses.
1.45-2.50 im waiting and i dont really care how long it is peter has made a complaint to the team leader nurse and has got a number for his supervisor.
2.50 glenn my chemo nurse comes and gets me. i get nice and comfortable in the chair,
glenn gives 6 anti nausea meds and checks all the chemos
i then get caneulaided, doesnt hurt glenns good. i get hooked up to saline and the first 3 chemo drugs get shringed in with sailine. this takes half an hour.
3.45 the last chemo gets hooked up to the drip and saline i msg adrian to tell him to meet us at glouster house to come home
6.00 yea my chemo is finished and we head home!