chemo session 2

I find it hard to write a blog after chemo without feeling sick - odd thing, but whenever I think about 'those bags' that go into my arm, it brings on my nausea. So I've just eaten some toast and am trying to bang this one out. It won't be a very entertaining blog, I'm afraid.

The chemo session was looooooong. I arrived at 10am and didn't leave until 5:30pm. Crickey. As usual, finding a vein was a headache - four attempts in one arm, two in the other. I think we got through eleven needels (one batch was blunt!). I do not like needles at all and this was a pretty traumatic 30 minutes.

Once the vein was found and my tube was in, there was a lot of waiting. I had my PSP with me, so watched most of a movie. Pre-med didn't start until 1:00pm - I was given a lot of antihistamines to stop the shaking I had last time. Administration of the drugs was pretty quick, until that last dreaded bag which gives me so much "vein pain" as it goes in - they turn the drip-speed down and that's where the time went.

My dear ol' dad turned up, despite all the warnings I could give him, ridiculously early. So he sat there and ranted aimlessly for hours. He's not 'old'-old but he's managed to bugger-up one ear and should have a hearing aid, but he 'forgets' it, so half of what I say and what the nurses say is completely lost on him and he's always behind the flow of the conversation. I want to kill him after 30 mins.

The meds went in OK, but as we reached the end, that familiar feeling of nausea set it. Horrible, However, I have been given extra anti-sickness drugs as the nurses were fully aware of my problem with nausea.

I was sick once that night and again the next morning, but apart from that, I've felt 'fine'. The nausea comes in waves - it's always there in the background and then suddenly it ramps up ... and then fades. The less I think about it, the better (writing this blog is actually bloody horrible, as all I'm thinking about is how sick I feel).

But the good news is that apart from that, so far, no other side effects. I've slept well, possibly better than I have done for a while. I am not ghostly white, which is good. My ol' man, who has stayed at my flat since Thursday night, has described the difference as 'amazing'. And I guess it is.

So, I wonder why the difference - well, three things are in my favour. Before the my first session, I had not long had an operation with general anaesthetic, which does hang around in the body and make you feel pretty flaky. I had also had that horrible bone-marrow scrape and on top of the whirlwind of news, I remember I was looking and feeling pretty hellish before the treatment. Also, this time I've had three weeks of recovery time (which won't happen again, sadly) and was feeling strong before the treatment. Finally, perhaps my body has not had such a shock this time around. I have a history of being able to adapt to drugs fairly quickly, although normally the drugs I took didn't makes me feel like death for six days - well, maybe they did, but not before making me feel like a golden God for a night.

So, the last day and a half has been spent on the sofa watching films with my dad, with the volume on 95/100 whilst he still struggles to hear the dialog. I took my dad to the pub, sorted him out with somewhere to smoke and basically looked after him ... hang on a minute. What's wrong with this picture?

Today, Saturday, I've woken again to 'just nausea', so I've released my father of his parental responsibilities this morning, which I suspect he was relieved about, but not before we fed the ducks. The flat is my own my again. And exhale.

So, I'm home alone - wondering if this is the extent on the side-effects I'll get. I'll be lucky ... I'm fully expecting an attack on the immune system that will drain me, but so far, so good ... oh yes, I can't work out if I need a haircut or my hair has started to fall out ... it's breaking a lot in a shower and the bathroom seems to have a lot of hair hanging around. Might be time to have a chat with my hair dresser.

Right, i'm not writing anymore because it just makes me feel ill and 'the football' is on ... my day plan is to watch the two Premiership games on TV, plus Man Utd on the internet. Feel free to join me, call me, come over this weekend ... and thanks again for all the txts etc. Very kind.

Love you all.