Day 1 - 13th June 2013 - Chemo 1/5 RT 1/35

1 minute read time.

FormerMember

14 Jun 2013

Up at 6am. Transport arrives 7.15am. Arrive late at hospital 9.15am. Discover have to have blood test and cannula. I'm not keen on needles into veins. Have panic attack, get faint, feel sick, burst into tears and tell nurse I don't want any treatment. Several pep talks are given. Start Chemo 10.30am and don't know what all the fuss was about. Just like when I was on the drip in the hospital. It takes 3 hours. Then onto Radiotherapy at 2pm, fitted into mask, screwed down onto table and it's all over within 10 mins. I'm told they have never seen anyone keep so calm and still on the table. I tell them that's what 30 years of yoga does for you. There is then a frustrating wait for the hospital transport. Feel sick in car on way back but the anti sickness tablets work OK. Get home 5.30pm in time to watch the tennis on TV. Don't get to see much as I then get several bouts of diarrhoea. Phone hospital , they say take imodium. Doesn't help, start to get fretful. Phone them back again, they say give it a few more hours and then go to local A&E. Now getting very anxious. Start to wonder how I am ever going to get through this. Fortunately it gets better and I am asleep in bed by 9pm.

Today's positive thought: The first step on a journey is always the hardest.

FormerMember over 11 years ago

That's it, one day less to go, Margaret! I am sorry you had some troubles but you did make it through in one piece. I had to be under the mask for 20 to 25 mns each day. I listened to a Healing CD every time, imagining the radiation to be pure healing energy.. which it is!

30 years of yoga, that pleased me! I have 40 years of yoga behind me ( I am 59 ) and that also helped me a lot during treatment. During the chemo session, I listened to CDs of Buddhist talks, even though I am not a Buddhist, but they really helped me make sense of my feelings and helped me to keep calm. On my daughter's calendar ,that she made for me last summer, there were philosophical or funny quotes. I will tell you the ones I liked best as you go through treatment. Here is the first one

"Reality continues to ruin my life" Bill Watterson.

Good luck for tomorrow. Take plenty of rest. Be kind to yourself.

Remember that one day this will all be a distant memory.

Sandra
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FormerMember over 11 years ago

Hello Sandra. Thank you so much for your helpful suggestions and the quotes. I'm downloading some Healing CDs and Buddhist talks onto the MP3 player right now! The yoga has helped me so much, actually on recalculation I've done nearer 40 years too. I'm 54 and I think I started going to classes with my Mum and her friends when I was a teenager. Before my cancer I was a fitness fanatic and now sadly I don't have the energy for it, or my Consultant's permission!. Yoga is about all I can manage at the moment, and even then I can't do a lot of poses like the shoulderstand because I have permanent muscle and nerve damage following my operation. But I can still get into the full lotus, managed one the day after my operation!
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