About 20 minutes into Andrew’s IV fluids and anti-nausea meds, Andrew turned bright red and his throat closed up. I ran into the hallway, saw his palliative care doc, and she yelled for a nurse team to come in with an allergy kit. They hit him with some IV Benadryl and other meds, which worked quickly and he recovered. They’re calling it an allergic reaction to the anti-nausea med—which is odd, because he received a very similar drug last week before chemo started. In theory, he should've reacted to both drugs similarly. But we've learned that not much is textbook about Andrew’s health.

On the upside, Andrew’s oncologist and his NP ran downstairs to check on him. (We imagine they brace themselves every time we're in the building.) This turned into an impromptu appointment to rehash the Sloan visit, do a day-by-day recall of his side effects and meds taken, and discuss lowering the chemo dosage (we decided against for next time and will try new ways to mitigate side effects). Obviously not our preferred circumstances for an appointment, but it was nice to get more face time to discuss.

Now hopefully back to the good day…