Our pastor came by the hospital to talk with her and pray with her before they started with the chemo. Only one visitor is allowed in with the patient at a time, so I waited in the hallway outside of the treatment area. He stayed longer than I thought he would, which was nice. When he came out of the treatment area and into the hallway, he talked with me for a few minutes before leaving.
I then went back to where my mom was and sat with her. Sometime shortly after I sat down next to my mom, the staff suddenly broke out in applause. (The treatment area has several, small private rooms, I assume for the more serious cases, a nurses' station, and several reclining chairs for patients whose cancers aren't quite as serious. The areas around the reclining chairs can be individually curtained off if needed or desired and each little area has a TV and a small, rather uncomfortable, bench nestled quite closely to the reclining chair that the patient is sitting in. I had about a half a foot of space between my knees and my mom's chair.) The applause came from behind me and to my left, in front of the nurses' station. My mom and I wondered why they were clapping. My mom's nurse told us that they always clap when a patient completes their final round of chemo.
There was a beautiful lady (probably around 35-40 years old) standing there, wiping away tears, with a beautiful smile on her face. Her hair was short (for obvious reasons), but thick and blond. Seeing her cry made me cry. Some of the nurses were crying, too. It was a wonderful moment.
This happened a couple more times with other patients and each time I got a lump in my throat and I clapped along with them.
After sitting with my mom for about an hour, she told me to go get something to eat. There's a Subway inside the hospital, a short walk from the cancer treatment area, so I ate there. My mom wanted a blueberry yogurt (Greek yogurt with blueberries on top) from the cafeteria (she'd had it there before and really liked it), so I got her one of those and a cup of red grapes for both of us.
A while later, I got Mom a sandwich from Subway (the yogurt I got her and the small bag of potato chips the nurse got her weren't exactly filling) and after bringing it to her, I went to the gift shop and got her the purple head scarf she wanted for when she loses her hair. She was surprised I got it for her, but she wanted it, so why wouldn't I get it for her? :-)
The chemo went well. Mom didn't have any bad reactions to it at all. Meaning, nothing bad happened while we were there that would've required some kind of intervention or change in the treatment. She felt just as good when we left the hospital as she did when we got there.
Saturday, Sunday and Monday (she'd seen her doctor that day for a follow-up visit) were good days for her, too. But on Tuesday and Wednesday, she had to leave work early because she was just too exhausted. A side effect the doctor told her she'd probably have. But by Thursday, she was feeling good again.
She went back to the cancer center this past Tuesday so they could check her blood. They found that her white blood cell count was too low and made her put on a mask. They told her that she couldn't go back to work, go to any public places or have any close contact with anyone until her white blood cell count was back up. They gave her a shot and told her to come back the next day.
After she went home from the hospital (Kelly had gone with her to the hospital; after Sean and I left the orthodontist's office, we met them there), the kids and I got something to eat, then went grocery shopping for Mom after getting her grocery list from her. I also picked up her prescription for her.
She went back to the hospital yesterday and they checked her blood again. Her white blood cell count is back up and she can go back to work and church and other public places without a mask. :-)
So, overall she's doing good. She hasn't lost any hair yet, but the doctor said that wouldn't happen until probably after the second round of chemo. She really doesn't want to lose her hair, but she's leaving it in God's hands.
