I'm a little bit irritated about my infusion today...  They tried to take my blood pressure right when I got there to the infusion room and it was high.  So they came back a few minutes later to try it again and it was still high.  Then another nurse came and tried it and it was the same.  Well, this sent up warning flags all through my team of care givers and finally the study coordinator came over and said that my oncologist had okayed them to give me my infusion anyways but they were then going to give me a prescription for a high blood pressure medication.

Frequently throughout my adult life I have suffered from white coat syndrome, and particularly when maybe things might not be going quite right at an appointment or I am anxious about anything, my blood pressure will be high.  I kept telling the nurses about my white coat syndrome and that with my first pregnancy, the midwife office that I was attending actually wrote in my chart to make sure and take my blood pressure by hand because it was always much higher with the automatic machines.  But of course no one would take it by hand or listen to me.  So after they okayed my infusion drug, a pharmacist from the pharmacy here and an assistant came to talk to me about the drug that my doctor had prescribed and the possible side effects of it.  They said that I was going to be started out on a very low dose to see how I tolerate it and then if needed they will up the dosage.  Apparently the most common side effect is the blood pooling up in the ends of the fingers and causing some swelling.  They also asked if I had a blood pressure cuff at home so that I could monitor my blood pressure every day.  I mentioned that my mom had one that I would see about borrowing.  They said that they would call me in about a week to see how my blood pressure was doing and how I was tolerating the drug.

So, after the issue with my blood pressure, they finally gave me the Avastin and then I went down to the pharmacy to pick up my prescription.  Thanks to my mom for having to spend extra time at my house - I was probably gone an extra hour and a half longer than I typically am gone on my infusion only days.