Unfortunately I did not get photos of my IV drug treatment until the very last one, so I'm pretty jaded, fat, cranky, and tired in these pictures.  I really just wanted to get the heck out of there as fast as possible, but I know that hardly anybody knows what chemo or other IV treatments might look like until they get there so I figured I ought to get some pictures taken.  Pfft!  I know that personally I had no clue at all what any of it would be like, so hopefully these photos are helpful to somebody else in that same situation.

During my chemo...

Here I am in the waiting room of the oncologist's office... with my bag full of busywork that I never actually do (being narcoleptic the benedryl they give with some IV treatments utterly knocks me out) and the first of the two energy drinks that I usually downed just to stay somewhat functional.

Internal chemo view...

Here, at least (oncology offices are probably at least a little different in their operating procedures), after a decent wait in the lobby they take you to a room in the back with a lot of recliners, a sort of medical supply end table for each one, a nursing station, and a snack bar.  Unfortunately I couldn't get a shot of the entire room since I had to avoid shooting other patients or hospital employees.

Internal chemo view...

This office has a fairly decent snack bar... usually there were a couple different kinds of cookies, a few different kinds of chips, fruit snacks, raisins, ramen, coffee, tea, juice, and Ensure.  Since I was so broke (and still am) the whole time, I would sometimes pocket a box of raisins for my chinchillas or a couple of cookies to eat later in the day.  Shhhhhh!

Weird hospital no-crotch machine...

After you situate yourself in the recliner with your snacks and your drinks and your bag of busywork a nurse will come over and take a kit out of the medical supply end table.  Now, I have a port (which I'm keeping as long as possible) so it's fairly fast for them to hook me up.  If you don't have a port you usually warm your arm with a heating pad for a few minutes and then they would do the same process but it would involve finding a vein and setting up a regular IV instead of accessing a port.

Weird hospital no-crotch machine...

The kit (for people with ports, anyhow) includes gloves, an anti-germ scrubby thingy, and a stabby port accessing thingy.

Weird hospital no-crotch machine...

In order to properly sanitize the area before accessing the port they must use the anti-germ scrubby thingy for a minimum of thirty seconds.

Where you wait around before surgery...

Now I am shiny and clean (or at least two inches of me is).

During my chemo...

This is where they use the stabby port accessing thingy to access my port.  This is difficult to photograph well.  Basically you just take a deep breath and they push the thingy into your port.  Honestly I don't even feel that part but your mileage may vary.

Internal chemo view...

A better photo of the stabby port accessing thingy... the needle bit doesn't stay in the whole time; they lock the thingy in place and then disengage the needle somehow leaving just a little tube in there.

During my chemo...

After they access the port they draw out a small amount of blood to make sure everything is hooked up properly.  Sometimes they'll draw blood this way to run labwork and make sure you're okay for treatment that day.

My hospital room post-surgery...

When they're sure the line is set up properly they flush the line with some kind of clear fluid that keeps the port from clogging up.  Some people can taste it when this happens, and others (myself included) can smell it.  It smells like antiseptic or toner... and it's very odd to smell something that isn't exposed to the air (or your nose) at all.

My hospital room post-surgery...

This is an older photo but I'm including it because it clearly shows the flushy stuff.

During my chemo...

After the flushy stuff has all been flushed they detach it...

During my chemo...

... and then they hook you up to a regular IV line.  Usually you get some amount of pre-treatment drugs (like steroids or benedryl) to keep you from having an adverse reaction to the treatment itself.

During my chemo...

... and then you wait...

During my chemo...

... and you wait...

During my chemo...

... and you wait...

Internal chemo view...

... and then if you've been very good after a varying amount of time (my chemo took a few hours but my other IV treatments took slightly less than an hour) a nice nurse will come along...

Internal chemo view...

... flush the line once more (if you have a port) and unhook you.

Internal view during my chemo...

Afterward (for a port) there's just a tiny pinprick.  For regular IV lines a bit more bandaging is involved (pressure has to be applied for a small amount of time afterward or you get a crazy bubble under your skin).

Internal chemo view...

I tended to get round, green Snoopy band-aids.  That's the end of my IV treatment adventure (theoretically).  Hopefully everybody kept their head and arms inside the ride at all times... there are a couple of people in that treatment room that probably wouldn't mind some replacement limbs, you know?