So Dec 8th came and Katie was not feeling very well that day. She had a lot of pain, abdominal bloating, nausea and was generally not a happy camper ( I don’t blame her one bit) the Dr.’s and nurses threw everything they could at her to help her feel better but to no avail. She was also really nervous, because well it’s chemo:/ Katie’s sister Brooke had a lot of bad reactions/ side effects to chemo like blood clots , anaphylaxis , severe nausea and vomiting….She had every right to dread her upcoming chemo, but she also really wanted to get it over with, as that is her ticket to hopefully feeling better and frying the crap out of the cancer. 
After being heavily pre medicated she was still not feeling good , actually she was feeling increasingly worse. When she went downstairs to the outpt chemotherapy treatment area, our first clue that it would not be smooth sailing is the word outpatient. Katie is an inpatient… so that made everything more complicated. Nothing seemed to be working properly with connect care:/( the new system AHS is rolling out) she needed a different wrist band , they needed to get report from upstairs because they had difficulty finding orders, they couldn’t access any of her drugs or pain meds from down there, so there were significant delays but hats off to our amazing nurse and his fellow colleagues for patiently sorting it all out. Meanwhile, Katie is feeling more barfy , more pain by the second and she hasn’t even had chemo yet 😰by this time she had been downstairs in the treatment area B for 2 hours! Katie started to develop a red rash on the side of her face, he was a bit concerned as we hadn’t even started chemo yet, but I explained we have noticed this redness coming and going all this past week, it never seems to cause any concerns and it always resolved itself in a couple hours…. I discussed Katie’s fears about chemotherapy with her nurse so he could have a better understanding of her concerns. He was excellent at reassuring her and explaining that sometimes emergencies occur like in her sisters case, but they are well equipped to handle them. No sooner had he spoken his words of reassurance all hell broke loose! The charge nurse was also in the room with us at this time and was concerned that it was getting too late to start, she also felt that Katie was too sick to get chemo and……the lady right next to us receiving the same chemo therapy as Katie was getting , had a sudden cardiac arrest, code blue. It was terrifying. The room was immediately filled with Dr.’s , residents, the code team all the nurses we’re running around getting emergency meds drawn up and the crash cart. Our nurse didn’t bat an eye he just kept talking to Katie, you could see the fear and uncertainty in her eyes. I implored the nurse to please, please not delay her treatment any more. He agreed and hung the bag, no turning back and at least the code team and half the Dr.’s and nurses in Foothills were outside her curtain… then Katie vomited 🥺everyone was was holding there breath… oh crap. But then Katie stood up and said ahhhh that feels a bit better actually….. I kid you not , she handled that chemo like it was nothing. She felt really jittery from all the pre meds like gravol, haldol, ondansetron, but didn’t feel so sick anymore. She got back to her room around 6 PM. 
Something that never crossed our minds during all of this were her dear nurses up in the palliative care unit. When they heard code blue over the hospital overhead announcement to treatment area B they all we’re afraid for Katie. The charge nurse called down and the unit was relieved that Katie was ok ♥️ Once Katie was settled back into her room, the meds wore off she generally started to feel better! Exhausted but better than earlier in the day. Her nurse said it’s not very often that he has a patient leave chemo feeling better than when they arrived. Long story, I know , but this morning I came into a smiling Katie and FINALLY a smiling octopus! We joked that we swear we could hear the quiet screams of her cancer cells dying …. Boy do I hope those F( rhymes with suckers) are dying. 
On a side note, we send prayers of comfort to the poor woman beside Katie yesterday and her heartbroken family ♥️ 
#FuckCancer