Well, Remicade infusion 1 in progress.  Kind of.  They're giving me Benadryl first through the IV and then they'll start with the infusion of the actual medication.  I'm in a room full of older cancer patients and it makes me a little sad to see them all here.  This infusion center is located within a cancer treatment center - so most of the other patients here are going through chemotherapy.  The other patients all look like they could be someone's dad or grandmother.  The strange part is that everyone here seems to know the routine of this place.  They walk in, settle into their chairs, and stick out an arm.  The nurses go from patient to patient, adjusting IVs, checking the progress of the medications draining into patients.

Another thing: you know those service projects where you make quilts to send to a hospital?  Well, I know now where those end up.  They are neatly folded and placed in cupboards all around this room.  Easily reached by cold patients on gray, drizzly mornings (like today).  [Also, I realized that I don't really like being called a "patient".  I am what I am, I suppose.  But that title is not my favorite.]

Woah.  Okay.  The drowsiness the nurse warned me could occur as a side effect of the Benadryl kicked in.  So just be aware that I might post this before it's finished so that I can go to sleep.  Also, sorry if there are any typos in this post.


This place is not at all what I expected.  I was thinking that it would be very clinical and be lit in fluorescent, greenish light.  I was surprised to walk in and see pretty marble floors (okay, I doubt it's actually marble... but it's supposed to look like marble.)  There are this black leather recliners running along the length of the room.  The chairs look like they belong in a living room, not in place like this.  Or at least, the almost do.  They have wheels on the bottom and big white numbers on the side.  They also have TVs and DVD players in pretty cherry wood entertainment systems.  They're spaced out about every three chairs.

I've been watching the rain out some of the big windows that cover one of the walls.

I can't help thinking back to where I was a year ago.  Hospital, entirely too many drugs in my system.  This is kind of similar, I guess.  But things are so much better than they were last October.

The nurse switched out the Benadryl and started the Remicade.  So far so good.

Still drowsy, though.  So naptime?  I think so.