Thursday, March 08, 2007
| Both barrels! Well I'm wearing my new PJs and slippers and dressing gown courtesy of work - I'm letting "air" get to my radiated bits on account of, well that was advice I was given! Tuesday we arrived at Lincoln hospital an hour early at 11am (mum left plenty of time since we went via her tractor) encountering NO traffic to speak of. Ho hum. Time for a cuppa and a sit down, oh and as I'm sure you're all aware now - a toilet visit. Mosied on round to oncology and checked in, then sat to wait for my first appointment with the lovely Dr Tom - at 13.20 - running an hour or so late, but you know it's reassuring to know if you need extra time you'll get it! I went in on my own and waited some more in a side room - eventually he came in, shook my hand (as mum says you have more confidence in a Dr who shakes your hand) and sat next to me, that in itself was a little odd. He went over side effects again but added that I'll be going through an early menopause as the beams will be going through my ovaries There's a very small (5% I think he said) chance that the beams will also zap my small intestine which could cause narrowing to the point where I need an operation to remove that section - oh goody! I'm already drinking buckets of water and cranberry drink to avoid cystitis as my bladder and uterus may also shrink and get upset. To quote Tubs from League of Gentleman "My insides are all wrong". More good news though, as they currently see node involvement (which they won't know for sure til they get lab results back after my op) as I'm doing 6 weeks continuous chemo now, I'll only need 4 months instead of 6 months post op chemo - 8 sessions so every fortnight. If by some magic after the TME (total mesorectal excision) where they take away my rectum and all the fatty mass containing the lymph nodes - anyway if, by some magic that comes back cancer free from the labs I may escape that chemo altogether. Well let's not get our hopes up yet - they're still expecting to give me chemo. Oh and I showed him my chemo bag - he said it's very fashionable or something, but he's not seen one as nice. Signed another consent form, shook hands then back to waiting room. Approximately an age later, despite "Sister" preferring chemo appointments to happen before radio - I go through for my first Tyson zapping. Had a chat through exactly what will happen and side effects again, checking that I've got lots of aqueous cream to soothe the burns and simple soap to wash with - oh and I need a "comfortably full" bladder. Ah well I've not been for an hour or so, which seems enough. Debagged again, face down on the bed in a massive room surrounded by very thick walls. A bit of shuffling me about to match me up to the tattoos and MORE drawing crosses on my backside - purple ones this time so at least they coordinate with my bag. First I get zapped on my front, then the machine moves around and zaps my right him, then my back, then left hip and it's all done. I'm getting two doses of 6mv and 10mv - 45gy. Whatever the hell that means Again an age later and I go through to the (much bigger than Pilgrim) chemo suite. Another lovely nurse - I'm sure she was called Sarah, who gave me a card with website details for the kids to talk to other kids whose parents have cancer. She did yet another style of dressing, and because my skin is now getting sore and red under the constant dressings whipped out a magic flat lollypop thing which coated my bare skin and should help create a barrier between that and the sticky stuff. She also gave me spare dressings! That's great because after several attempts with the bathguard in the shower they get pretty grubby and start coming away then I get twitchy about infections in my "wound". All in all 5 hours at the hospital. Phew. Wednesday's visit - only one hour in total! Plus a brief encounter with my mate Pob - during which I remembered that coke does NOT agree with my insides any more even on a full MacDonalds veggie and cheese roll belly. Damn. bye for now! 19:42 - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove |
. So therefore I'll be having HRT sometime in the future, be at increased risk from heart disease, osteoporosis yadda yadda yadda, oh but reduced risk of breast cancer. Always a silver lining eh? And think of the money I'll save every three weeks!
. Back to the waiting room........ | Eeeyun   |
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