On April 27, I finally got my port placed and the surgery went very well.  I did not realize that I would be awake for the procedure (the surgeon listened to the Dave Matthews Band the whole time), but it was not painful and now I am a bionic woman, kind of.  I basically have an air tag under my skin near my clavicle where I can receive chemo, have blood drawn, or get infusions.

On April 28, I was admitted to Carle Hospital for chemo round 2.  The new chemo is called DA R-EPOCH.  The DA stands for dose adjusted.  If I can tolerate the chemo, they will adjust the dosages up for the next chemo round.  R-EPOCH is  96 hour infusion, so 5 days, minimum, in the hospital, tethered to an IV pole.  Just like my first round of chemo, the first days came with a burst of energy due to the "pre-meds" and steroids I was on.  I was able to WFH (work from hospital) on most afternoons (see pic of temporary office, lol).  Shout out to the City of Champaign for being an amazing and supportive organization to work for.  I also tolerated the chemo fairly well the whole time with no adverse reactions.

But....Being in hospital, tethered to a pole, for 5 days is its own kind of agony.  I walked laps around the oncology ward, I read one book, my friend Alex visited for a few days and built me a short routine of exercises I could do while tethered to a pole (mostly squats) and my friend John came to play scrabble with us.  

If you are able, I encourage you to visit me during one of my upcoming chemo treatments as there will be 6 more*.  Get in touch w me or Jonathon if you want to visit for an hour or an afternoon.  All the visitors really lift my spirits and make the time go by faster.  My next Chemo will be May 20-24!  

*Only persons aged 18+ are allowed to visit