Chemo and a VIP

2 minute read time.

(28 Nov, 2012)

First chemotherapy session today… having been quite blase about it all I woke up this morning terrified, not just about an unknown process but the after effects, side effects etc etc.

I was jolly glad my daughter was coming with me to hold my hand and drive the car… 6 hours is a long stint.

We set off jolly early becuase of the ‘official opening’ of the hospital by Wills and Kate… but as it was we pretty much drove straight in and started early… so early the lady with the consent form hadn’t had a chance to arrive… but I forgive them and I’m not likely to turn up for a treatment I’m going to refuse am I?

But as it happens… the actually having the chemo was a doddle… no adverse reactions…. they gave me a corned beef sandwich (i handled the picking off the tomato bit quite well)… we ate some jelly babies, some Minstrels and some Bourbon creams.

And you could tell when the royal visit was close by the fact that the nuses all started emitting high pitched noises and wanted to take their breaks.

They’d just finished the long drip into my arm… the bit I may have had an allergic reaction to and started the hands on injections of various other fluids when our ward got visitors!!!!!

A big hat came through the door…. followed by another… and then I was the first person he came and talked to….

gosh he’s tall….

not sure where he got his people skills though…

he was busy telling me how he’s had all this cancer business… I should do as I’m told and never give in…and keep a sense of humour and how they took his bladder away 6 years ago…

..he then ended by telling my cancer nurse she was lovely and doing that cheek squeezy thing to her that you do to 5 year olds.

So thats the Mayor of Peterborough.

Somewhere in the newly opened (in actualite 2 years ago) Peterborough City Hospital there are probably nurses still emitting high pitched squeaks and wetting themselves at the memory of Wills and Kate visiting their ward…

In the Oncology day unit it felt a bit like second prize in a raffle.

(it may have been fifth prize…. its possible other wards got other local digitories).

Any way… after all the excitement we finished injecting all the chemicals… sorted my drugs to bring home and even got the ‘pink wee’ effect from the cherry lip red concoction before going home.

I think next visit…. I’ll get dropped off with a book, a bottle of water and a snuggle blanket and use it as valid down time. It was mostly fear of the unknown…

Oh and in other good news I’m a stage 1-e.

Stage one is early doors and the e is to denote the lymphoma is presenting outside of where they’d usually expect it to present… the downside of this is that I’ll have to go back for a lumbar puncture tomorrow to have some sepcial chemo put into my spinal ‘thing’… its late… all my big words for the day are used up and I’m off to bed…. on my SIDE!!!!!

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