Thanks Rchopper for sharing your experience with R-Chop . It’s a lot of chemo drugs. Thanks for letting me know about the ice chip to prevent sores in my mouth . Any little pointer is helpful and greatly appreciated . I’m going to be there for the whole day . Knowing I will be asleep most of the day with the exception of the cell phone ringing off the hook . I will prepare myself with food , protein shakes , water and my blanket . Thanks for taking out the time to share your experience . I will be back with my experience next month to share with you . Stay blessed .

Here is the write-up of my first round of chemo. Hope this is useful.

My dear friends, yesterday I received the first of six scheduled chemo treatments for lymphoma. Allow me to share the experience with you.

First, you check in at reception and are requested to provide your full name and date of birth--this will be repeated often. Glad I am that I finally committed both bits of information to memory!

Next you are led to the infusion area. This is a large room with numbered spaces along the outer wall and a nurse’s station planted in the interior from which all the spaces are viewable by someone.

Each numbered space consists of a comfy chair, which chair also has vibrating and heating capacities, a wheeled tower much like a coat rack on which your medicines and numerous sensors are housed, a chair for anyone wishing to sit with you, and a sliding curtain to separate each space.

The first task is to ensure that your port, the device inserted into your chest to receive the drugs and convey them directly into your system, is operable. Alas, mine was not, as the nurse discovered when she inserted a needle therein to verify operability.

The goal is to draw blood thereby proving suitability for the task at hand, but I supplied nothing but air. This is apparently not an uncommon phenomenon with ports being accessed for the first time.

A larger needle was applied with the same failure resulting, so finally a solution was pushed into the port to break up whatever might be blocking it. The human body, sensing this foreign invader, often issues an order to repel boarders, and that order results in the blockage.

The solution worked, blood was drawn, and the procedure commenced.

First you ingest several prep meds that have various functions. Then you are connected to an IV into your port, and the first of four chemo drugs is administered.

Oh, you are provided with a bell, similar to what used to be found at hotel or store front desks to summon a clerk, and you are admonished to use the bell only if something occurs out of the ordinary.

The initial drug requires four hours, and it ramps up in intensity with each hour as your body proves it can cope with the lesser dose.

After four hours and a lengthy pee, the second drug is administered. The second was of much shorter duration and produced nothing remarkable. Then it was time for the third. This drug not only will turn your pee a cute orange tint, but during its injection you must stuff your mouth full of ice chips to preclude the formation of mouth sores.

Finally, the last med is complete, and at the end of 8 hours (longer than normal due to the port difficulties) you are free to go home.

The nurses were kind, attentive, and knew their stuff. In sum, I experienced no pain, just minor discomfort. But what I saw amongst my fellow patients affected me profoundly. More on that tomorrow, as my LI space is nearly at an end.

Hello R Chopper thanks for your help . I will take any info , greatly appreciated . This is my first time for treatment next month . Good day. Stay blessed.

I can--do you want a step-by-step description of the procedure, or do you want to know how I reacted to having the procedure?

Privileged to help and support you either way.

Much love