Checked into the hospital last night (2/18/05), Room 1142 will be my home away from home for the next three weeks. The staff on this floor has been wonderful. They are upbeat, kind and very thoughtful.

Vital signs are taken every four hours and adjustments to my medications are made immediately. Today is the 19th and the first day of receiving the Melphalan it is given through my subclavian catheter and it took about 30 minutes for the unit to empty.

Personal Note: It is not a pleasant feeling knowing you are watching a liquid go through the tubing and into you that is going to make you sick, loose your hair and miserable for a period of time. The saving grace of this is that I have confidence in my doctors and I realize that this is my best hope. I know that it will not cure either the Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia or the Amyloidosis but the object is to slow down the depositing of Amyloid in my kidneys. In very simple terms the Amyloid deposits are like chewed gummie bears attaching themselves to the walls of my kidneys. My doctors might question my description but I think you get the idea.

I had a terrible headache last night and was given two Darvon, which make me extremely nauseous. Had a light breakfast but still had the headache and nausea. I think it was a sinus headache, because I have them at times.

At 10:00 AM the nurse started the pre-meds (Decadron and Zofran) to help my body accept the chemo.

I was told to chew ice 15 minutes before the chemo started and at least 30 minutes after the chemo was completed. This is to help prevent mouth sores. I love to chew the soft ice chips so I finished off the pitcher and requested another.

I will receive the second unit of chemo tomorrow morning.