Provenge III: T-Cells Return from Training

Sorry it's another all cancer all the time post but I truly wish I had this info in hand instead of going in as blind as a mole when it was my turn.

Since Provenge II, it's been two days and your recently dumb T-cells have been flown back from school.  Now these new Ninja cells need to get into your body and start kicking some Effing Evil Empire ass.  This step is easy especially if you had that port or catheter put in.  If you chose not to do that all I can say is "You should have listened.  Hey can I get that itch for you."

Apparently the Ninjas are trained somewhere in the cold frozen lands to the North because the Ninjas are cold.  Really cold!  So even if you've just had a hot flash so severe they called a flood warning take that blanket the kindly nurse offers.  You'll regret it if you don't.

About the worst part of this process is boredom.  The saying "He died of boredom." has some truth to it so make sure you take whatever entertains you to be entertained while your Ninjas are marching off to do battle.

Basically the process goes like this.  Idle chit chat while the nurse cleans your "spouts" [I'm sure there's a medical term but it escapes me at the moment] before hooking you up to the IV.  Then you wrap yourself snugly in your blanket and in my case grab the lap top and get caught up on some work.  What you don't have a port or catheter and you can't move your arm?  If it seems like I'm rubbing the readers nose into this "plumbing" issue well, it's because I am.  

After about most of an eternity the little beeper on the IV machine goes off prompting the nurse to come over, unplug and once again clean your spouts and caps them off.  However you are still not done.  There is a waiting period.  You have to sit, cuddled in your blanket you earlier gladly took from the nurse, and make sure there are no immediate adverse reactions.

In my case, for the first attack of the Ninjas that was a great idea, but for the second version just more boredom.  The IV  temp is so much lower than the average temp of a healthy human and though wrapped in a warm cozy blanket I suddenly got cold and started to shiver.

I sat there shivering until my nurse noticed.  Boy did I get a tongue lashing for not telling her I was sitting in my chair shivering uncontrollably.  Apparently that type of shivering is called rigors.  Amazingly the treatment is a little bit of Demerol. [It was a year ago but my useless memory tells me I might be wrong on what it was]  Demerol?  Yep I was a little put aback too until maybe two minutes later, still lucid and functional [they don't give you much] I was wrapped in my warm cozy blanket as still as a rock.  So if you end up with the rigors do not hesitate to let your nurse know.

The worst part of the whole process was the traffic as I made my way to the Cancer Center.  Truly of all the things you've gone through to make it to the Provenge stage this is the easiest and most tolerable. It truly was that simple.

Other than those rigors the only affect I suffered from the Provenge treatment is my prolonged life span.

Talk to you later.