First day of treatment

First day of treatment. The place is 5 minutes from our hotel and we arrived at 8:30 a.m. I was able to eat at 5 but fasting since then. Hungry! We were welcomed by Janice, one of the many warm, relaxed and cheerful people we met there. I filled out paperwork, including a 14-page medical history. One thing you notice about allopathic or wholistic providers is that they care about a lot more things. They want details on what you eat, how much you exercise, sleep, tons of symptoms other providers don't ask about. It's a pain, but does make you feel looked after at a whole new level. We then met with Dr. Deane, the director who admitted me, and Dr. Zieve, who will take care of me. Anyone interested can read his book, Healthy Medicine. One jarring question was "why did they do the mastectomy?" If the cancer is already beyond the breast, then a mastectomy is not indicated, apparently. Our answer was that they thought it important to remove the initial tumor. They said nothing, but its apparent from the result, that I would have been better off without the surgery. Grrr! it was reassuring to once again hear Dr. Deane say that they have had "good success" with triple negative breast cancer. Glad to hear someone has! Anyway, after paying by credit card for a week of treatment (some, but not much of which will be reimbursed through insurance), I spent a few moments envisioning our retirement spent working at Wal-Mart and living in a trailer park, then focused back on the idea of living to retire at all! My main treatment today was IPT, the insulin-potentiated chemotherapy. I was worried about this and made Steve stay, but it was easy. they accessed my new port (still sore and not psyched about being stuck with a needle, but oh well), took some blood, gave me saline and then delivered the insulin. Shortly after this, which left an odd taste in my mouth and made my heart race slightly, she gave me the chemo. they are able to deliver a cocktail of 5-6 chemo drugs that they find work well in synergy. You can't do this with normal chemo, as it will kill you dead. Then i could eat. Yay!!! they followed this up with oral supplements (broccoli extract was one!) and the "pink bag" of IV vitamins and minerals and I was done. We were there from 8:30 to 1:30 all told. I feel good, my lung drained only another 50 ML today, and, provided this stupid rash goes away and the catheter entrance heals up, i should be able to soon stop moving around like an old woman, slightly hunched over to not pull on the tubing, and slowly, not to jar my poor, sore side. For someone who walks fast as a matter of personality, this has been a drag. We went out to Wal-Mart to buy hats (we have a magnificent collection of hats at home that are, alas, at home, and various household things you need when you move via airplane and don't want to lug around, say, dishwasher detergent. On the way out, Steve encouraged me to get the pedicure I was coveting. I had removed the polish and, in a fit of detox-thinking, resolved to leave them plain. Alas, the chemo has damaged the nails, so they were discolored and yucky. I found it depressing looking at my feet. So now, I am sipping a very tiny glass of wine and admiring my hot pink toenails. A very lively color, a spunky color, a color for a woman who plans to live a Hell of a long time. Steve said he loves them, that they are a sign that we just left the bottom behind and are on our way up!