Cycle 2, Day 0

Today was Day 0 of Cycle 2. We’ve been nervously anxious about today because the only infusion Clay had a really bad immediate adverse reaction to in Cycle 1 was the infusion he got today – Rituximab. And today was his first experience with an outpatient infusion.

We arrived early to get the numbing cream for his port, then went to the infusion floor. MD Anderson at Baptist is a really beautiful, well thought out facility. It is spacious and comfortable (as comfortable as a hospital can be). The outpatient infusion center had over 50 rooms but did not seem to be full. The nurse gave Clay his pre-meds around 9am (which included Benadryl) and they started the Rituximab around 9:30. Very slowly at first (because of the previous bad reaction) and then every 30 minutes they increased the amount of the infusion. After 3.5 hours, his infusion was complete and his only reaction was to sleep through 95% of the infusion thanks to the Benadryl!

Then after the infusions were over, Clay felt good enough to go shopping with me!!!! 🙌🏼. We did his first Target pickup, went to Old Navy to look for him some smaller clothes (he’s lost 30 pounds so far) and then…Clay took me to Total Wine (first time visitor) and I just looked around forever. Then I took him to IKEA. So pretty much he got more exercise between Total Wine and IKEA today than he’s gotten since before his diagnosis on Christmas Eve 😬. But he held up well and still feels good. We ended the night with BBQ at this delicious place across the street from our hotel called the Bearded Pig. Will definitely be going back.

God definitely answered our prayers that this would go smoothly today. Please pray that the rest of the week goes as well.