So Mr H and I arrived at James Cook University Hospital at 9.30am yesterday. A little early, we decided on a breakfast in the hospital cafe before heading to the ward.
Mr H was calm and collected and I think relieved that the day was finally here and the treatment could get underway.
Once at the ward the nurse checked us in and once Mr H's room was ready he unpacked an made himself at home. Initially he was disappointed to be in a side room - being a people person Mr H would have much preferred to be on a ward full of characters to entertain. On the plus side, his room overlooked the entrance road to the hospital to he could see the comings and goings.
First things first. Mr H had his blood pressure taken and then he was hooked up to a bag of saline which could take 2 hours. This made him wee. A lot. Dinner time came and went, Mr H enjoyed IAlmost 3 hours later the nurse came back and moved on to the next step. A steroid injection that might give Mr H an itchy bum! The nurse described it as the feeling of sitting on stinging nettles but explained that not everyone gets this sensation. Mr H managed to avoid the itchy bum but continued to wee extraordinary amounts. Next was an anti-sickness tablet and then the brown bag of chemo.
I was not prepared for how emotional that would be! Mr H looked at me as if to say, this is it, and I had a massive lump in my throat. I can only imagine the feeling of anticipation as that bag of toxic medicine drip drip dripped its way into his body, en route to killing those cancer cells. The nurse explained that some people feel sick, others didn't and it was a case of wait and see. Mr H also got an injection into the tummy to prevent blood clots - the nurse explained that being in bed and less mobile than usual runs the risk of blood clot so it is easier to prevent a blood clot happening than it is to treat one if it does occur.
This chemo was given in 2 bags and took about 3 hours to go through. At this point Mr H was given a dose of furosemide which was to make Mr H wee even more. The necessity of this was to flush his kidneys. The chemo is toxic and once it has whizzed around his body on its cancer cell killing mission, it needed to be flushed out as soon as possible. Mr H was given many many many cardboard wee bottles as they don't like the chemo wee to go down the toilet. Mr H now had toxic waste.
Another chemo took Mr H to midnight when he was hooked up on 8 hours worth of saline. He slept like a king and had no side effects at all.
Day one done.
Hopefully day two will continue as positively.
