Today was an early morning, because they needed to draw blood to see where all my levels are. We got it scheduled for first thing before my radiation appointment, which meant an even earlier wakeup for the whole family. I explained to the phlebotomist that while sitting on the couch the previous afternoon, one of our cats freaked out about something, jumped on the arm of the couch, and launched herself to the other side over us, basically landing ON THE FUCKING PORT WITH THE NEEDLE IN IT. I felt like she’d stabbed it through to my back but there was no bleeding and I didn’t see anything leaking so I figured I’d be OK. The phlebotomist said that I didn’t have to worry; the port is attached to my rib (!?!) and built to withstand all kinds of abuse. Apparently there are people who have had ports installed for 10 years with no complications. She drew blood just fine, and everything seemed to be OK.

Radiation was normal; I let them keep classical music on today.

Chemo is progressing; today the anti-nausea medication hit me like a ton of bricks. Between that and the lousy night of sleep I got (due to the drugs), I laid down as they put the Etoposide drip in and crashed out snoring for two hours. My labs came back low on potassium so the nurse set up an extra drip of that, which kept us there a few hours longer. Side effects are mainly happening with the bottom system, which I won’t go into detail about here. But I’m not puking and I’m still hungry, which are good signs.