Round Two

I just finished round two.  After driving down at 5:30 AM and getting my lab work done I headed to Oncology fully expecting to wait at least a couple of hours to be called.  No sooner than they had taken my vitals in pops Nurse George who points at three of us and says “follow me.”  We are taken to a large room with 9 recliners and 9 machines that go “ping.”  I take a corner so I can access the view of Ocean Beach.  It must be just down the hall from my “room with a view.”  Nurse George works in tandem with Nurse Judi and they are quite a team.  They can hook up 9 patients in less than an hour and monitor them with such precision that they can turn a table [lounge chair] in an hour and call for the next diner. My prix fixe was along the line of a meal at the French Laundry.  Most of the diners were a la carte and spent 1, maybe 2 hours sampling the fare.  I was there for 8 hours.  Each delicacy was brought to table as the previous one was being finished.  For appetizers I was given [orally] two Tylenol and two anti-nausea pills.  My beverage was the “House” saline administered as a drip.  We had trouble finding a vein.  I think they have all gone into hiding.  Optimally they hoped to use a hand or wrist vein [in lieu of the easier to find elbow vein as the device was to remain attached to me over night and the elbow should not be bent once the insertion is made.  The main course was Rituximab [the house special] which was served alongside of the saline.  3 hours later after I had finished the Rituximab I was given the Bendomustine which was about a two-plus hour drip.  For desert I had about an hour of hydro-cortisone.  I was released at about 3:30.  Because I was keeping the tube in my arm I was staying in the Hop-tel, two small art deco buildings just past the parking lot.  They are all double rooms and must be shared.  Luckily I had an interesting Nam Vet who was there for major dental surgery.  He was quiet and unobtrusive.  I had dinner out on Clement and 22^nd at a charming little Italian restaurant called Mescalanza.  I came back to Fort Mylie and went to bed.