Hooked up

 After driving for 2.5 hours through horrible rush hour traffic, I arrived at The SFVA at 8:30.  I'd p[lanned to have breakfast but now I didn't have time.  They had me checked in and seated in the Infusion Clinic by 9AM.  I did not have to see my oncologist which was odd.  They ordered the Rituxan and it arrived 20 minutes later and I was hooked up.

There were no other drugs this time.  They did give me Tylenol and a couple of Benadryl orally. The infusion started at 50ml per hour; after about an hour they raised it to 100.  There was no adverse reaction so they upped it to 200 within the next hour.  I had visit from my Oncologist so I asked if he thought I could go for the full 900ml in the one sitting. and he gave the nurses the go-ahead.  I was up to 200 by lunch-time.  Unfortunately, there was no lunch.  I should have packed a sandwich.  Note to myself for next time.  I did have a bag of gummy bears so that sufficed.  I was out of there by 3:30 so I headed for The Beach Chalet for fish & chips!  That did the trick and I was on my way home.  About 8PM I was completely spent and headed to bed.  I was awake about every 2 hours still quite exhausted.  I guess that was a result of taking the full infusion in one sitting.  I started on the Revlimib pills when I got home; they were delivered that morning.  Revlimid is the brand name for Lenalidomide which "exerts immunomodulating effects by altering cytokine production, regulating T cell co-stimulation, and enhancing  the NK cell-mediated cytotoxicity."  Basically it stops cancer cells developing, stops blood vessels growing in the cancer and stimulates part of the immune system to attack the cancer cells. The side effects are myriad, but considering how I react to drugs I am confident that I will not encounter any.