My third trip to chemo took me back to one of the common rooms. There are three, and it’s pretty easy to tell which is the sad, quiet room. Obviously I don’t choose that one! There was another woman in this room who I’d met the first day, and so it was fun chatting with her again. In this photo, you can see my slurpee. During my first trip to chemo, my nurse told me that I should suck on ice or keep something cold during part of my infusion. Adriamycin is a particularly nasty drug, instead of letting it drip in over time, she would “push” it directly into the line into my port. It takes about ten minutes for her to slowly inject it into my line. Studies have shown that cryotherapy—bathing the mouth in ice—will help prevent mouth sores that are a common side effect from chemo. So after I put on some lipstick (Dubonnet again!), we head to 7-11 to pick up a big slurpee. I stash it in a little cooler so that it’s cold and icy when we get to the Adriamycin push. I love a good slurpee, but by the time she’s finished, I’m usually freezing and sick of my beloved coke slurpee.
Run Lipstick Chemo 