HALLOWEEN!! and treatment No. 7



Monday was the beginning of my busy busy week. I went for my MUGA Scan. It was pretty sketchy. Lawrence General Hospital is probably one of the freakiest places I have ever been. It has nothing to do with the people who work there or who are treated there... it has everything to do with the ancient architecture, the outdated decorations, the scarey elevators, and the overall lack of space! You especially notice this when you enter Nuclear Medecine, a narrow hallway hidden behind the Laboratory. Nuclear Medecine is where they do all types of scans. At the end of the hall there are three rooms full of machines AND IN the hallway are patients in wheelchairs and hospital beds waiting for their turn at a scan. And there I am, sitting in one of those weird arm chairs they use for taking blood waiting for my nuclear injection. It's downright freaky!

It wasn't the best experience. Although the technician did get a vein on the first try... no blood would come out. I had been so dehydrated over the weekend... that it was literally like taking blood from a stone. It took at least 5 minutes for her to get enough blood into the vile. It was disgusting.



Monday night was much better. Todd spun at the Enormous Room in Cambridge. His annual amazing Halloween Mashacre featured hits like The Monster Mash, Enter Sandman, and of course Thriller. Despite having to carry a ton of equipment in my nurse costume and heels... it was super fun!!






Tuesday I took the subway into downtown Boston for my acupuncture appointment, which was interesting considering the massive amounts of people going to the Red Sox parade!! The acupuncturist, Mihn, was extremely nice and thorough in her questions about my many ailments (namely: my right shoulder, my inability to sleep properly at night, cold hands, and my bad mood).


I laid down on the table. Mihn put two heat lamps on. She stuck three needles in my stomach and wiggled them around. Ow, a little. Then she put one needle in each of my elbows, wrists, knees, feet, ears, and one between my eyes. She left me with some classical music in the room for about 15 minutes. When she came back, she took out the needles and I turned onto my back. She found where my shoulder was hurting and stuck 7-10 needles around the area. She also stuck more needles down my spine. I stayed there for another 15 minutes with the heat lamps on. It felt sooo relaxing.


I can tell you right now, that my shoulder doesn't hurt anymore. Although she did reccomend that I have an upper body massage to rejuvenate my shoulder muscles (which I will seriously consider). And I definately feel an improvement in my circulation. She said that I should continue with the acupuncture every other week in combination with light massage. Cool!

On Wednesday, which also happened to be Halloween, I had my second to last treatment. It was slightly depressing to have to go to the hospital on such a festive day. I certainly didn't feel like a kid anymore. I debated wearing parts of my nurse costume to be funny but in the end decided that I didn't want to offend anyone or feel weird. Boring.


Auntie Kellie came over. We had to stop at CVS to pick up a camera. At the hospital, we checked in and the nurses accessed my port-a-cath immediately. No blood return. Manny did a finger prick and passed 5 minutes squeezing blood from my right middle finger. Gross. After that I spent 15 minutes waiting for Gloria the nurse practitioner in an examination room while poor Auntie Kellie sat in the chemo-lounge! Gloria didn't have much to say... blood counts good... minimal side effects... I'm just tired... do I need any prescriptions?... yadda yadda. "Oh, you are due for a Lupron shot." "I was thinking, since I only have one more treatment left, maybe we could skip it?" "No, I think you can get it today after your treatment."


In case you don't know, Lupron is the milky white shot they give me in my backside, that supposedly puts my ovaries to sleep. It kills. I guess it was a TRICK for me this Halloween.


The treatment goes by pretty quickly, despite how extremely inpatient I am... it can't be over quicker. We watched Rachael Ray, who was dressed like a flight attendant for Halloween. Cute! I tell Auntie Kellie about how I can taste the Benadryl when they inject it into my port-a-cath and how gross it is. Yummy.


Finally, it's over and Kay takes me into an examination room for my injection. Ugh. I bend over and since it hurt so much last time we decide to try the other cheek. OW!!! I scream outloud and I'm bleeding. Booooo.


I sleep the rest of the afternoon. Victoria goes trick-or-treating. Kitchen Nightmares is a repeat. What a day.


One more to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!