Chemo-14 today.

Today, I have had my 14th dose of Cetuximab as part of my chemotherapy cycles. This dose was due last Friday, but because of low blood counts it was postponed then. (Please see my previous post for more details). Today, the blood counts have improved overall significantly (the white blood cell count increased to 2.94 compared to 1.44 last Friday), which prompted my doctor suggesting me going ahead with the chemotherapy dose.

One of the toughest parts of the chemotherapy doses is to find the right vein to inject the drugs! Since with every chemotherapy session, the vein for that session is rendered useless for at least three weeks, it is a huge challenge to the nursing staff to find a right line! Today, they found a vein on my right hand, but immediately after injecting a few pre-medication injections, the vein has swollen and has become useless! The nurse in-charge has to find another vein on the left hand to go ahead with the session! All this process of finding vein and pricking it with the needle is painful enough to remember for days, because of the pain that remains until next week, when the next dose of chemotherapy will be done!