This place is terrible

Today is my first infusion. We had a check-in with Dr. Drake first. He answered all nine-billion questions I had about the treatment. He was honest in saying "yep, that can happen" to all of the side effects, and was able to tell me the odds. For example: Losing my hair: possible, but very unlikely; Taste changes: 30% likelihood.

Things that are definitely going to happen:
- Any pain that I currently have will dial up to 100. (This primarily includes my never-healed twisted ankle from February)
- Getting gross sores on my palms and soles of my feet.... can't wait!!
- Digestive issues/abdominal pain... delightful!

I am allowed to travel, get mani/pedis, and be a person. I need to wear sunscreen, and not do anything that might cause more inflammation. I also need to monitor my blood pressure. If something like a cold or an infection happens, I will survive; although, it will be pretty terrible by magnitudes because of the increased inflammation.

After the appointment, we went up to the 14th floor for the infusion. Or rather, we went up to the 14th floor to wait. We did have an appointment (12:30); but we were told that "it will be a while." I finally asked "what does 'a while' mean?" It means 90-minutes to three hours, or so. We have been here for two hours already, and I am not hopeful.

This is a truly miserable place. It is cold and VERY crowded. There are walkers and wheelchairs everywhere making it maze-like to navigate. Most people are much older than me, and are  accompanied by care-givers. Their flip-phone ringtones are on MAX volume. And, to make it just a perfect version of terrible: CNN is droning on the TV. Nothing like visions of Trump and his horrors to make this place worse.

The comforts they provide include a coffee machine and a heap of individually-packaged saltines. There are also microwaves that look like they were installed around 1986.

It is astounding to me that we are expected to wait several hours for treatment even when we have an appointment. I am genuinely surprised that they can't guess just a little bit more accurately when it might be my turn. The only thing this place does is infusions. It's not like there are a bunch of walk-ins. I've had my appointment for over a month--my next three are already on the books. Surely there is a better system.

We have now been waiting 2.5 hours. I don't want to be here at all. I am already super-nervous, and this truly terrible environment is not helpful. Chris is being a rockstar and reading me hilarious articles on the internet. Friends are texting, and I am whinging to them. I just wish it were all slightly less terrible.

Next time, I will bring warmer clothes, better snacks, and headphones to drown out Trump and the ringtones.