Lenny and the Chemo Ninjas

Today, Lenny gets to meet the Chemo Ninjas!  I'm a bit nervous.  But so far so good.  Got here, got a fun little bracelet, and now I'm sitting with Anna in a comfy chair with some anti-nausea drugs being pumping into me.  


The port is interesting.  I kind of feel like I've had a plug inserted.  No numbing agents (although I was offered ice), and it was a very small prick and boom, I'm plugged into the ninja machine.   Although the port does go into a vein in my neck and I can feel that.  While I know the port is the only way to go for this, it still skeeves me for some reason.  :p 
The nurse went over what to expect  - about 30 minutes of anti-nausea drugs then a slow plunge of Adriamycin (takes about 5 minutes) then an hour for the Cytoxan.   So basically once I'm plugged in, it's boring.  But at least I can work - email and stuff - and play around on my computer.  
I'm so happy Anna is here.  I've been blessed with an amazing daughter.  

How Lenny Got His Name

The story is pretty short, but the aftereffects are more far reaching, so I thought I'd share.  I was talking to my friend Melissa Mann, who lives close to me and has seen other of her friends go down this road.  We were talking about how scary the diagnosis is and where the mind goes.  We then talked about it being one BIG lump and she asks, "Should we name it Lenny?"  And thus Lenny the Lump was born.

I actually find it comforting to view him as Lenny the Lump and not a part of my body that has morphed into something that could potentially kill me.  I even joke around about how my port is a gateway for little chemo ninja's to go do battle with the lousy house guest and force him into a smaller space so that we can kick his ass out of me.  Silly, but it works for me.  So, I'll go with it.

How Lenny the Lump came to be

Lenny the Lump is a tumor who lives in my right boob.  This is my story about him and what having him means to me.  Every diagnosis is different, every woman is different, so this story is mine and mine alone. 

Lenny decided in make himself known while I was on the phone with my dad. Lenny is kind of big guy, so my first thought was, "WTF?" Then it went downhill from there. I admit to creating my will and thinking about homes for my menagerie.  It's scary thinking about what this all means. 

SO many appointments! I have a surgeon, a breast cancer nurse, an oncologist and a chemo nurse. I've had a mammogram, biopsy (the good thing about Lenny's size is that it made it easy to get samples with aspiration instead of more invasive techniques), Armpit Ultrasound, a Chest XRay that showed a spot on my lung (I used to smoke) so I had a CT Scan. Lung was fine, but I have a thickening in my spine, so a PET Scan was ordered. Nada except Lenny, so that was good news. I had a port installed last Thursday. I also had an EKG, but I need to schedule the echo cardiogram. I'll try to fit that in next week as it appears that I have no appointments next week - can't have that, can we? :p

I'm a glass half full gal, so while I seem irreverent at all of this, I'm actually fully informed and have researched every aspect. I am nervous about starting chemo, but I like to say that the chemo ninjas will shrink Lenny enough so we can kick him out.

I thought about the cool cap therapy, but decided I'd be too stressed wondering if would actually work, so I decided to just let it go and shave my head when the hair starts falling out. I bought a wig and some fun scarves and hats.

I need to go to the store tonight to pick up chemo supplies. My doc told me to go light but there are things I want. My daughter lives about 90 minutes away (she's 23) and will be down tomorrow night to sit with me through my first session and to stay through the weekend. If I need something I don't have, I can make her run and get it.