Another chapter begins

Another chapter in our journey has begun. For the past month or so, we've been getting ourselves ready for this time. Today, Mike got a catheter placed in his chest. The catheter was placed in a large vein under his collarbone. The catheter is for administering fluids, chemotherapy and to obtain blood samples. It was difficult for me to see this tube coming out of Mike's chest. I get pretty queezy seeing blood and stuff, but I need to get used to it since I'll eventually be the one who will be flushing his catheter with heparin every day and cleaning the area around the incision after he returns home from the hospital. His catheter is attached to a large bag of fluid which is placed on a luggage cart. This stays with him 24/7.

This was a long day at the hospital and Mike was drugged up and didn't get much to eat since he had to get the catheter placed. On the drive home, Mike threw up. Fortunately, he was seated in the back when it happened, so I didn't see it nor smell it as much. The first thing that came to mind when I heard him hurling, was the scene in the movie 'Stand By Me'. There's a pie eating contest scene in the movie where one person ate so much pie that he started to puke. This caused a chain reaction and everyone started puking. I have a sensitive stomach and I thought for sure I'd lose it in the car as well, but I did not. Mike's really sore from the catheter placement and just tired all around.