I Want Yew To Want Me...

I need yew to need me,
I'd love yew to love me,
I'm beggin' yew to beg me...

Hi Friends,
Well, Thursday was quite the day. It was much longer than I anticipated, but we got through it. Julie dropped Catherine and I off at about 8:30, and they took us in by 9:15 (which was great). There were a few anti-nausea and anti-rejection drugs first, and they took about two hours to infuse. I had a hard time with one of them, it felt horribly toxic in my arm and then my arm went cold so Catherine got the nurse to make sure all was ok. It was. One of the drugs they use is Benadryl which helps prevent a histamine reaction. It also made me really dopey. Then they started the Taxol infusion. I could feel myself fading in and out, not sleep exactly, but pretty drugged. During one of my fade outs, I started hearing Cheap Trick's song "I Want You to Want Me" in my head, but imagined the spelling as "Yew." I was singing the song in my head, kind of amused at this, wanting the yew to be ok, wanting it to want me. (For those who missed the post earlier this week, Taxol is derived from the yew tree.) This song makes so much less sense now but in the drug-induced moment it was perfectly clear. I told Catherine about it and the two of us sang it quietly together during the drip. It was one of the sweet moments of the day. The Taxol took longer than normal because the first time through they have to graduate the dose. They first administer about a teaspoon an hour and watch you carefully, then they increase. I'm glad that's the protocol - a woman a few beds down had a reaction to the Taxol. I couldn't see her, but it didn't sound pretty. We left about 7 hours after we arrived, and I was done in, to say the least.
The nausea was rough the first day, but it has settled pretty well. Now it's dealing with joint and bone pain which is significant and will worsen tomorrow with the growth hormone. I'm saving the codeine in case I need it then.
I just heard from my cousin Ellen's husband, Gary. She had her surgery yesterday for ovarian cancer and all went well.
Above is a photo Jules took this afternoon of me beside the tree outside the house. The leaves on the tree are still pretty green, but those on the ground reveal its fall colours.

Much love,
Kip