So, I’m 3 days post cycle 1 of my FEC chemo treatment. I’ll take a step back and talk you through it. I was so nervous not knowing what was going to happen or how I was going to feel but the actual appointment was a breeze.
Turns out I know the sister on the ward through mutual friends and she was my nurse on Friday, so I had some stuff to natter about and get all of the nervous energy out. My appointment was at half 10 and I was straight through to a little side room to be hooked up to a drip. The nurses there are absolute pro’s with veins so no need to worry about that today. They hang the drip on one of those sticks with wheels so you can move about like they do on the movies. I sat with a saline drip in for about an hour I recon, then I went to the main chemo suite. For someone with no knowledge of what this might be like, I can only describe it as looking like the day room of an old people’s home (minus the telly and funky smell). It was the size of a bay you would get on a standard ward in a hospital, but all of the beds replaced with huge comfy leather chairs with a footrest and little table. 4 down one side of the wall and 4 down the other. There was a little bit of patient banter when someone came or left. I got introduced to all of the patients there and they seemed nice enough. All of us in the same boat staring at each other for the next 4 hours.
My actual drugs given to me for these first 3 cycles are not in a drip, but stringed into my IV by a nurse alongside the saline solution on the drip. I had packed a bag with activities and reading stuff to keep me busy for a long sit, but it was nice to chat with the nurse. Made good use of the time. Not forgetting the all-important information, they fed me well while I was there! Soup, crackers and cheese, cake and custard and endless mugs of coffee. Anyway, as appointments go where they fill you with nasty chemical drugs that are intended to kill you from the inside out it was fine. I left my appointment, again not empty handed. Steroids, anti-sickness meds and a lot of immunity boosting injections were in today’s goody bag.
2 hours after I left the hospital I wanted to vomit. It was like all of a sudden, the worst hang over ever had hit me. I tried to sip on juice, but it made me worse. I took and anti-sickness tablet which didn’t touch the sides. I managed to eat a bit of tea and did feel better but at 7pm I took to my bed with another sickness tablet. I felt like I hadn’t slept in days. I was out like a log. 5am sharp I woke yesterday and today. These are going to be long ass days. I vomited throughout the morning not being able to keep water down. I remembered the nurse had said treat the sickness like morning sickness and try and eat little and often. I text my sister for Mam stuff advise (no idea how I was meant to help morning sickness) and made myself a peppermint tea and ate a dry cracker.
It worked! Every hour yesterday I ate something. Just a mouthful of something. I piece of mango, a bite of cracker, one crisp at a time. The sickness was still there don’t get me wrong, but I could get up and walk about and hold a conversation without worrying I was going to projectile at any moment. I’m not sure how much the anti-sickness tablets are doing but I’m not risking stopping them if this is how I feel when they do work.
Today I start 7 days of immunity boosting injections. Side effects are severe bone, muscle and joint pain. Give me a break. I haven’t got over my 3-day chemo hangover yet. I only had one day of steroid tablets yesterday, again which were meant to help with the sickness, so I hope it starts to ease. I’ve got that awful wine headache in my eyes too that I can’t shift. They say drink lots of water which is very hard when you’re so queasy. I managed 2lts yesterday, but it didn’t seem to make a dent in the dehydrated way I feel. Oh, if you are usually a pee checker fanatic like me this is also going to drive you mad. The drugs they give you make you pee look like Irn Bru then a dark brown colour and it smells funky. Now how are you meant to know if that’s the effect of the drugs, or your seriously dehydrated?! If my pee doesn’t look good enough to drink, I’m necking pints of water.
So, today let’s see if I can manage my sickness so I can leave the house. I think this would help clear my wine (but not wine) headache. And pray the effects of these injections don’t have my life. On the plus side I get to scoff baby Heinz biscotti and neck ginger beer every hour. Chemo isn’t taking over my bank holiday!
