It was a crazy week getting ready for Hurricane Iselle,  Friday Thursday chemo, and the start of school next week.

Yesterday, Friday chemo turned into Thursday chemo because Hurricane Iselle was bearing down on the Big Island of Hawaii.  This is the first Hurricane to hit the Hawaiian Isles since Hurricane Iniki in 1992. The earlier part of the week we spent scurrying around getting water supplies, filling up the cars with gas, and course buying the all important jelly beans, pop tarts and Cheetos. Not surprisingly, the kids were a large influence in determining which supplies were important. I did buy 6 cans of Spam (the Hawaii staple) which will probably make their way to the Hawaii Food Bank in the coming weeks.

My chemo nurses said to come in Thursday for blood work and chemo as the Chemo Clinic was meant to be closed on Friday. For the first time in months, my white count was in normal ranges. I guess that Nuelasta is actually working. My red count is creeping lower, but that is a problem for “future” Kym to worry about (if it gets too low a blood transfusion will be in the works….”future” Kym though, right?) The chemo room was packed with all the patients trying to get it their treatment done ahead of the storm. I was happy to get the last chair open in the room. The Gemzar transfusion went fairly smoothly.

We were tracking chemo symptoms and the storm last night. The storm slowed down as it approached the islands, but my chemo side effects did not. My effects hit at about 2 am and the storm hit at 2:44 am. Feeling better this morning, and happy that I can just reset and relax today. I have set an alarm for my Neulasta shot this afternoon, so that is my next big event for the day. As of this moment, I am halfway through the chemo treatments. Time for a celebration! Maybe some Spam?