Day of Chemo Checklist

The first time I did chemo, I had to stay in the inpatient clinic, where I shared a room with 3 other chemo patients -- all much older than me, 2 of whom were staying in the hospital for a few days.

After my first chemo treatment showed that I had no allergic reactions to any of the chemo drugs, I was allowed to switch to the dagbehandling (day treatment) clinic, which was a large room equipped with about 10 blue dental chairs. Other patients came and went in a manner that indicated this was routine for them. One brought cake to share with everyone else in the room, a nice gesture, though sweet foods are supposed to increase nausea so I turned it down. One woman was hairless, pigmentless, and kept perfectly still for three hours with her eyes closed. She seemed to be dead already. The guy sitting next to me still had a full head of salt-and-pepper hair and enough energy to entertain three visitors. Again, I was by far the youngest person in the room.

For my next chemo session, I want to bring:

* an engrossing book

* noise-cancelling earphones

* my IPOD with the latest moth.org and This American Life episodes loaded

* my laptop and a good DVD

* two fresh bagels

* peanut butter

* some fruit

* ginger candy

* a big bottle of water

* ginger ale

* sea-bands