I am at Fred Hutch for my penultimate chemo infusion. Just got my blood drawn and feeling nauseous, hoping this will pass soon. Unfortunately I have developed a nausea reaction to the smell of the alcohol used for disinfecting — which they always apply quite liberally before accessing my port. I’m not able to completely hold my breath, so I catch some of it and am immediately queasy.

This is also part of why I hate the self-administered nivestym shots so much. Along with the nastiness of poking a needle in your belly, you need to clean the injection spot with an alcohol wipe. Boom – insta-nausea. Apparently I am a weird minority on this — according to the internet, a lot of folks seem to get relief from nausea by sniffing alcohol wipes.

I am boring, so I didn’t wear a costume today, but I’ve seen a few fun costumes here in Fred hutch this morning.

The last couple of days were incredibly busy at work, as I prepare for additional time off throughout November. It’s clear to me that I returned to work too soon after the last infusion. For the final two infusions, I’ll be taking the full week off following the infusion appointment. That means just six working days in November, so I had a lot to do, to prepare for that. I feel like I tackled that to-do list pretty thoroughly, and am happy about that — I feel freed up from worrying about work.

Well, I think the consult should be happening soon here, and then on with the infusion. I am really curious about when my next scan will be. I haven’t had any scans since April, which seems … like an awfully long time, considering I’ve been actively in treatment ever since then. No idea how effective any of the radiation or chemo has been, to date.