16th Herceptin today

Wow, I'm finally on my second to last Herceptin. I thought in the beginning I was to have 18 Herceptins, but it seems that now it's 17. I just went back through my blog to count all the infusions, and I'm really on 16.

10/08/08
10/29/08
11/19/08
12/17/08
01/07/09
01/28/09
02/18/09--7th
03/11/09--8th
04/01/09--9th
04/22/09--10th
05/13/09--11th
06/03/09--12th
06/24/09--13th
07/22/09--14th
08/12/09--15th
09/2/09--16th
09/21/09--17th The last one!

Keisha was my phlebotomist again. She tried Old Faithful, but she said the needle was too small. It wasn't flushing properly. I wasn't very upset since the needle actually didn't hurt that much, but then she tried a vein in my hand. It hurt going in, but she got it in right away. There was some confusion that this was my last Herceptin, but Malissa the nurse figured out why. Carol had counted my last echo as an infusion. During the infusion, I talked to Grandma and updated her on Dad. I also tried calling Dad's case manager, but we just played phone tag. Dr. Q's assistant called me about Dad's disability form. Then I felt sleepy and rested for the rest of the infusion, maybe 15 minutes.

While I was leaving the cancer center, it was the weirdest thing. I ran into Dr. Slingerland and waved hi, but it didn't register that I knew her from Miami. I think I was still sleepy so I turned around, and she shook my hand, which was bandaged up from the infusion. I wasn't sure if she knew I had breast cancer although I told people in her lab. Last time I saw her, Dr. Slingerland was giving a talk as a possible candidate for the director of breast cancer research at Hopkins. So I told her I just had my Herceptin and asked if she was giving another talk, but she said she was just visiting. Just an odd coincidence!

I saw Dad tonight. Mom had already brought chinese food for us. We thought that he would have already eaten, but he said that he hadn't. One of the techs said that he had eaten 20% of his food (dessert and soup) so Mom fed him some rice and meat with veggies. He said his stomach hurt so we thought he was hungry. Oddly, I talked to nurse Elaine, and she showed me his menu, which indicated that he had eaten 98% of his food except the mashed potatoes. Dad had a smile on his face when she said that, but I have no idea if it's because she said he was trying to get better food or he couldn't believe he couldn't remember. It seems he may be having some memory problems still, but he's making a lot of progress in his walking.

Dad has gotten his iv line removed today. It just didn't need to be there anymore, but it's been in there since he came from Hopkins on Fri. He's still taking the anti-seizure meds and salt. Nurse didn't know about the steroid off-hand. A tech scanned his bladder for urine to make sure he's not retaining. He had 241ml, but they'll be more invasive if it goes above 250ml. I warned Dad. His hands were a bit cold tonight so a heat bag and extra blankets took care of that. He said he had a headache tonight so I asked the nurse to give him some Tylenol. We watched America's Funniest Home Videos, a show I know he likes. I saw him smile. I just wished he smiled more when interacting with me and Mom.

Dad told me that his right leg is still weaker, but his hands are OK.

The woman in my lab has 3 more weeks before she's due. That means that Linda's got 4 weeks! Hard to believe! Grandma wants you to be careful out there with all those fires going on, Linda!