Post #64: Chemo Done

Hello everyone,

Anita went in this morning for her chemo treatment which did indeed start around 9:30 a.m. and lasted about two hours. All went well. Her blood pressure today was 159 over 70, so either one of two things happened yesterday: the nurse who took her pressure yesterday got it wrong or Anita's blood pressure actually went way down and then back up in the space of 24 hours. Both are possible.

Anita said that when the nurse (who seemed new and unsure of what she was doing) took her pressure yesterday, she put the cuff on, puffed it up and then walked away to look at some notes or something, came back and then jotted down the pressure reading. As anybody who's had their pressure taken knows, the nurse should have stayed and watched the gauge the whole time. So the low reading may not have been accurate. Today however, another more experienced nurse said that chemo patients frequently get these blood pressure changes - so who knows?!

Anita is still running a low-grade fever - it was 99.4 today. However, Mother says that this is not unusual for her. In any event, she doesn't feel as though she has a fever, so that's good news. The nurse also said that the results of Anita's latest blood testing were "good." And then, after leaving the treatment center, Anita felt hungry for fish so off she and John went to a bar & grill where she promptly ate an order of trout!

She's still on for her appointment tomorrow for the next Rituxan treatment. They will be taking her blood pressure several times during the process which will last about three hours due to the fact that they "slow drip" it in. She is napping this afternoon following this morning's treatment. So it appears that she will be going into her treatment tomorrow in, relatively speaking, good condition. Certainly her spirits are!

Melissa