Going on from where the previous posting ended. I was referred to an Oncologist and was told the story. I was going to have to have 6 months of chemo one every 2 weeks, and 12 sessions in all. At this point I still had a kind of bring it on attitude that possibly helped me deal with it better initially.
The first session of Chemo was scheduled for 2 weeks from then so I would have a chance to get my affairs at work in order. The told me that I would not be able to work for about 2 days after the session. I usually had it on the Friday and could be back on the Monday so I'd only miss 1 day of work every 2 weeks.
The first session was nothing, really. I barley felt it. Well almost, I'm not exactly sure what the stuff is that the put under the brown paper bag when they give it to you but I quickly learned to insist of having warm water bags all over my arm when that went into the drip.
I went home feeling fine, I thought "Well it its like this I can go back to work afterwards from now on." And it stayed alright for quite a few sessions. The first 4 was a breeze and I had a marked decrease in my disease bulk it went down from 55mm by 84mm to around 35mm by 54mm for the biggest node, the next 4 I started to feel the effects somewhat and the Monday after my eight session I finally threw up for the first time. Unfortunately it went a little worse from then on. I started throwing up with each treatment, I was constantly tiered and week and my blood counts got so low that I actually had to skip a week once to recover a bit more before my next session.
My girlfriend who is living with me had some particularly bad Friday night when she said I looked like death warmed up. She felt helpless, but she later told me that she realized that she could bring me water and some green tea and just leave me to recover. I got very puffy in my face, esp the day of the chemo and it gradually settled for the first few sessions after.
After what seemed an eternity it was finally time for the last session. The last session was actually okay since we had gone down to Capetown for a holiday that week and I didn't work. Which helped enormously, if I can recommend one thing its that you should try not to work during chemo. You recover much quicker after each session!!
The last chemo was the 8th of December 2006 and I was told to come back for scans the first week of January. The scans revealed that the disease mass was not all gone but the doctor said that it might just be dead tissue. I needed to go for a further PET scan. After finally get this authorized via the medical aid it showed some remaining disease.
The doctor over the phone told me that the remaining stuff seemed to be dead but there might still be some disease left and we needed to do a little more treatment before we could be safe. Another hint! Cancer isn't gone before its gone. Me and my girlfriend had a party because we thought it was over. I'd go for one or 2 more treatments and then it'll all be done with. But it wasn't.
When we eventually went in to the doctor and he explained what needed to be done next we reacted differently. I was struck with a good deal of fear and I thought Heath was going to kill the doctor right where he sat.
Basically it involved 2 more high dose chemo sessions. Each would last a week with me in hospital and then 3 weeks at home to recover. Which was all fine, but we didn't initially get the whole story. Firstly we didn't find out whether the treatment was going to be a full week or just the same Fridays as usual (which we assumed) and secondly we were not aware that the chemo would degrade my immune system to such an extend that I would have to wear a mask and eat very selectively for the week after the chemo until my immune system recovered sufficiently. So another hint: Don't assume anything. Ask for details about how the treatment is administered and what you expect afterwards.
The two high dose chemo's would be followed up with either 2 more high dose chemo's if all was not gone or if it was gone, give it a final death blow with a stem cell transplant. A stem cell transplant involves a high dose of chemo therapy, you loose all your bone marrow and all of your immune system. They harvest some of your stem cells before you start and then give it back to you after. You then need to recover anything from 2 weeks to a month some of it in hospital.
I had my first session and it was surprise after surprise with the fact that I'd need to be hospitalized and then again then again when I had to wear the masks. The hospitalization was a particular problem because I hadn't quite gotten my disability organised. One phone call from Heather to the doctor got that sorted out tho and off I went.
The chemo itself wasn't that bad. Its equivalent of having 2 of the previous sessions in one week. The difference is it is given to you over 5 days instead of 3 or 4 hours. So you don't really have very bad reactions to it. You get your usual tiredness and lack of appetite but nothing to write home about.
The second chemo is going fine so far, I'm now on day 3 of the second session of 5 days. And then I'll have my scans done in about 2 weeks. So holding thumbs! I'm sure it'll be fine.
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