Monday, March 3, 2008

One More Big Red


My non-Texas friends will not get the Big Red reference, so I'm including an image. Once, many years ago when I was young and foolish, I had been overserved on beer and awoke the next morning to the ill effects. It seemed that the only thing cold in the fridge was Big Red and so I drank some.

Ohhhhh, gaaaah, ack. The memory of Big Red's cloying bubble gum flavor is seared on my brain forever and just thinking about having some makes me start to feel ill. Really. Wikipedia says it's a red creme soda, not bubble gum, but whatever. I can't stand it.

The deep red cranberry color of doxorubicin (Adriamycin) resembles a bottle of Big Red, so the sight of that nasty cancer drug also makes me feel like scouring out my mouth before it's even administered. I have just one more round of A/C, or Big Red With An Acetone Chaser, and it's happening Thursday. Then I have about a 2-1/2 week break from treatment before I begin the next drug, Taxol, on March 24.

The most recent infusion of Big Red went much better than the last one. I snagged David the Nurse again and he put his mad skills to work. I had much less light-headedness in the days following treatment than last time.

I felt pretty chipper when I saw Dr. Popular the Oncologist this week, joking around and showing how tough I am. After our visit, he sent me back to the infusion area to co-ordinate my Taxol schedule with the admin there. I was low on food and rest. The sight of people hooked up to IVs and the intimate knowledge of their misery went straight to my gut and head and that's when I truly felt nauseous for the first time of my whole treatment. I shuffled out of there and headed straight for Hill Bert's Hamburgers on 35th (the new one) and got one of those Cokes with the wonderful crushed ice they have, and some crunchy tacos (did you know they have tacos?). Funny how an orange and a protein shake just doesn't cut it when you're
low.

2 comments:

Kat said...

When I was growing up in San Antonio there was a great TV ad with a young kid (Bobby Flores) singing "Big Red, you've been around so long, and you still belong to me-eeee!" It's lost to time, I guess, not even on YouTube.

My vote for most disgusting (conceptual) cocktail: Scotch & BR.

I'm glad you took the crunchy taco cure!

Roseana Auten said...

Okay, I accept your gross-out challenge: What about gin and Yoo Hoo?

Didn't they once have a ad slogan, "Go Big Red?" Or am I imagining that?