I’m very excited, my final session of chemotherapy – for now! And, it’s bell ringing day. Just by the reception desk in the cancer centre there is a bell which patients are encouraged to ring at the end of their course of treatment – an opportunity not to be missed.
Preparation and Treatment: My final course ‘Dexa’ consumed we head off for the hospital. I have an earlier session today which is great, let’s get that last of ‘Doce’ in me. It was the ‘fun’ team in the ward today, they seem to have a great time together, but a little less attentive – you have to attract their attention. Despite this, they are all wonderfully friendly and ready to help when you get the attention. A delightful Nigerian nurse set-up my cannula and the cold-capping, saline flush and 30 minutes of chilling and then the ‘poison’ comes out; all ready to go and the infusion starts. Mid-infusion, I get my next batch of medication, including the Filgrastim, more injections. I wrap-up around 12:30am and head back down to reception to meet Shirley by the bell. Our nephew, Ronan, who is living with us at the moment, was on hand to do the video of the bell ringing. We had a short discussion about the style of bell-ringing required and then the bell was rung! A moment I had been very much looking forward to – all the poison’s in now, only a final period of side-effects to manage. Yay!
Day 1: yesterday evening, whilst I was still benefitting from the effects of the ‘Dexa’, we had a lovely celebratory meal at a smart Indian restaurant, shades of fine-dining with a number of little treats dotted throughout the meal. This morning, the ‘leaden-limbs’ welcomed me, but I had a day-plan. Our Nephew will be playing at our local pub in the evening, a chance to perform and get some video footage for his show-reel, and I really want to go. So, I’ve made sure that I’ve rested all day, I was waiting for the over-whelming tiredness to kick in. But, although I am a little sleepy, and the resting surely helped, the tiredness hasn’t come. 8pm, I’m ready to head to the pub, and what a lovely evening watching Ronan perform.
Day 2: resting is still required, but amazingly things progressed even easier than early cycles. The tiredness is there, but not overwhelming, a slightly dry mouth, but less than previously. So, I’ve had a deliberately slow day, did a little computer-based work, but mostly chilled. ‘Filly’ in the evening – I almost forgot – which is now easy-ish to administer, but there’s still a post-‘stabbing’ moment to psychologically navigate.
Days 3 & 4: well, everything is going very smoothly. I feel that I’m through the ‘worst’ of this cycle’s side-effects, and without question this has been the easiest cycle. I’m very surprised, all the guidance had me expect a cumulative build-up with side-effects getting worse; this has not been my journey and I am so grateful and feel very lucky, especially after reading the blogs of others.
Day 5: I feel pretty much back to normal, save the anaemia, it’s a little irritating, but more than manageable. I’m off to help run our Library of Things this afternoon, it’s great to be somewhat back in action.
… at the library and I’ve just had a phone call from the PET-CT scanning centre, I’ve been referred and they have a cancellation tomorrow morning, can I attend? I’ve only recently finished chemo, so they need to check with the doctor that it’s ok.
… they just called back, I’m in 8:35am tomorrow morning. Excellent!
Day 6: up early to be ready for the scan, I have to drink lots of water and no caffeine. I’ve had an earlyish, but small breakfast along with my meds, ready to go and get radioactive. As I’ve had a PET-CT scan before I’m familiar with the procedure. A little admin to start, then a cannula is inserted, a saline flush, then the isotopes, manufactured especially for me in a cyclotron in the small hours, quality checked on the road, amazing what’s involved and I’m so grateful it’s available to me through the NHS. All good, cannula removed, now it’s a 90-minute wait while the isotopes start marking the cancer cells. Next, into the scanning room, all metal removed, on to the sliding bed and then into the machine. Fortunately, I’m not claustrophobic, so it’s a fairly straight-forward experience. It takes about 20 minutes, but it seemed very short to me, I think I nodded off for a while.
I’m now back home, Shirley is making me a big luxury breakfast and I’ll remain radioactive for most of the day. Of course, I’m hoping for some super-powers, but they were sadly lacking after the last scan. I’ll now have a couple of weeks wait until my next oncology appointment to see the outcome, but it’s been done, whatever awaits will determine the next step.
