4th Treatment

I apologize for the delay in posting this blog. Between Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, more shopping on Saturday and most of us having colds...we're just a little bit lacking in energy. Melanie got her fourth treatment the day before Thanksgiving. Rebekah got to go with her and has provided the text below. Melanie got her white blood cell booster shot on Thanksgiving day and has been a little sickly since her treatment, but over all, we think she is doing good.


I went with Melanie to her chemo on Wednesday (26th). I'd really wanted to go with her, and finally I was able to because I was off school this week. I got to meet Dr. K. He asked Mel how she was feeling, she said she thinks she's getting used to the whole routine.

After meeting with the doctor, we went into the chemo room. We sat in the back corner, which Mel said she likes because it's not as busy and noisy, which I can totally understand. It was pretty crowded that day because of all the people who wouldn't be able to receive treatment the next day (Thanksgiving, of course).

They gave her all her pre-meds, which took about an hour or so. Mel slept through a lot of that. After that the nurse came over to give her the two chemo drugs by syringe through her port - one of which was aptly nicknamed "the red devil." After that she got the rest of her chemo through the IV bags, and slept through most of it.

When she woke up her last IV was almost finished. We talked and ate some snacks, and then I went down to the cafeteria to get her a sub. When I came back she was all done with her treatment, and we just had to wait to schedule her next appointments. The whole thing took about 3 and a half hours, so this was her shortest treatment.

I was really impressed with how nice everyone was. Sometimes you have to deal with unnecessarily mean, negative people at things like this. But all the people we came across were really kind and helpful and optimistic. Mel's white blood cell count was really good, too! She said it's the best it's been since this whole thing started. I think this is a sign of more good things to come. My sister is definitely one of the strongest people I've ever known, and I'm glad I got to go with her to one of her treatments finally. It takes a lot of courage and bravery to do all these treatments and tests and everything, and there are things that go along with it that I didn't even realize. I'm really proud of her for that.

Four down, eight to go!