Introduction
I haven't blogged for a while - about a month, in fact! I'm going to catch up this weekend as there's lots to say. I've now had 4 weeks' treatment, and I'll cover it in 3 parts (it'll make sense when you read it, I promise!)
Part 1 is here - it covers the first 10 days of treatment.
As a reminder - I had radiotherapy daily and chemo once per week for 4 weeks initially - Part 3 of the blog will cover the most recent events and where I'm at now. Parts 1 and 2 are a historical account of what happened to me.
Part One: April 12 - 21, 2010.
Radio and chemo treatment started on 12 April as planned, with first chemo timetabled for April 14.
Radiotherapy was pretty straightforward - just lie there on the treatment table whilst the machine moves round and zaps the cancer from various angles. The radiographers said side effects will kick in about the end of Week 2, so it was good to have treatment without any comeback, if you see what I mean.
I got to the hospital on Chemo 1 day (April 14) feeling absolutely exhausted, only to be told my haemoglobin count was at 7.2 - it should have been >12!! The deal was struck that they would give me chemo as long as I agreed to being admitted urgently for a 5 unit blood transfusion (that's on top of the 3 units I'd had on Easter Monday). The units were given on the Thursday and Friday and I was then kept in all weekend for rest and observation - eventually discharged on 21 April after Chemo 2.
I was so relieved that they kept me in. I have never felt so tired - I realise now I was horrifically anaemic so no wonder every step down the hospital corridor felt like a mile. I could have hugged the doctor when she said she was going to admit me! :-)
Of course, staying a week in a cancer ward wasn't without its challenges. There were a lot of very poorly ladies there, and after a couple of days I began to wonder whether that was what was waiting for me in my future too. But then I told myself that these were different ladies, different cancers, different stages and there was nothing to say it would happen to me. That's not to demean what they were going through - far from it. I just realilsed I mustn't fall into the trap of comparing me to them when we were not the same.
Chemo itself was odd. The worst bit for me was having the cannula put in my arm/hand. They found it incredibly difficult to find a vein, which meant lots of stress, tears and whimpering, which of course wouldn't have been much fun for the poor nurse who was trying to put in the cannula, either. This happened on both Chemos 1 and 2 as well as the blood transfusions so it wasn't just an isolated incident. You'll have to read Part 2 to find out what happened next though.......
I also got a little emotional when the first drops of chemo went in. Radio didn't seem like "real" treatment but watching the chemo drip down the tube into my arm really brought it home to me. I was fine about it within 5 minutes, but those first few moments were a little tough.
So I returned home on April 21, 8 days after my "day trip" to the hospital. But it was all good in that I'd had radio and chemo in line with the plan, along with urgent transfusions to deal with a particularly nasty case of anaemia which would have delayed my treatment and recovery if left untreated. Nothing but praise and positivity for what happened to me in that period, even if it wasn't exactly what I'd expected!! But then that becomes a recurring theme in the rest of the treatment too - Parts 2 and 3 will tell all.......
Part One complete.
Jacqui x
Lessons learned
1. By all means discuss symptoms, side effects etc with other patients - but don't fall into the trap of thinking their situation will happen to you.
2. The thing to remember about possible side effects is that they're just that - POSSIBLE. It doesn't mean you'll get all of them - and the ones that do affect you may not be as serious as the booklets/info packs say.
