Take That, Rituximab

I went in for for my remaining 360 mL of Rituximab today at 9:00 am. After they hydrated the piss out of me with another full litre of saline drip on the IV, they started the Rituximab at 9:30. Every half an hour they increased the flow to make sure I was handling it okay. I still experienced the same symptoms as yesterday - burning in my sinuses and stinging in my mouth/throat - but I kept myself occupied so I could just power through it. I finished at 2:30. Currently I am feeling a little bit green, but hey - no pain, no gain, right!?

Thanks again to my beautiful girlfriend Kaitlin for coming with me. Babe, this whole thing would be a thousand times harder without you by my side! Also thanks to my brother Jeffrey for popping in to keep me company for the last hour while Kaitlin went to work. Take a look at that picture - he even wore a suit for the occasion!

Aside from today's adventure, I'm starting to experience some of the side effects of the chemo. My fingers feel so weird and numb today, and it's been a little bit hard to use them. For example, Kaitlin brought some blueberries to share and she had to actually pick them up and place them in my hand for me a couple times. And when I touch the palm of one hand with the fingers of the other, it's the strangest sensation. It feels almost like I'm touching someone else's hand! I think I'm also starting to experience what they call "chemo brain". It seems like it's harder to focus and concentrate, and I'm also finding myself forgetting things that I shouldn't be forgetting. Crap... I was going to write something else here but now I don't remember what it was...

That's about all for today's post. It was a pretty uneventful visit today, but hey, I made it through my first round of chemo, so that's good! I'll probably post in a few days when I start experiencing more side effects such as my hair falling out.

Thanks for reading,
Christopher