Post-chemo post #1

Saturday morning, C1D3 (that's Cycle One, Day Three for those who weren't paying attention earlier). Things are proceeding pretty well a couple of days after the first chemo session, with very little real effect at this stage.

For the record, the drugs I am having are: C1D1, epirubison and cysplatin, and constantly infused, 5FU (5-fluorouracil). In the States, according to the bulletin boards I've been reading, I think I would be having oxaliplatin instead of the cysplatin. My oncologist has no idea why they use that over there.

I spent Thursday morning in the chemo unit hooked up to various bits and pieces for about four hours, watching others come and go as they went through their regimes - some just in for an hour or so, others for a couple of hours. I was the only one who stayed the entire morning session. There were maybe 17 people through the unit in the time I was there. I sat next to a woman for some time who was in her third attempt in 18 months to kill off ovarian cancer - she said she was becoming less hopeful each treatment.

After the chemo, I was checked into the ward for the afternoon and night as a precautionary measure. I re-met a few nurses who were there just eight weeks ago when I had the dreaded gastroscopy that detected the cancer. Anyway, I was so full of anti-nausea drugs that I felt fine for the whole time - a little cotton-woolly in the head perhaps, but pretty good. And of course, no vomitting at all, which I think surprised everybody a little, but surely that was the point of the medication! Maybe its a propitious omen.

I came home mid-morning yesterday, and had a restful day, apart from wandering down for after-work drinkies (mineral water) with a few of the troops from work. Very pleasant and normal. I also had a decent couple of hours sleep during the afternoon, which I obviously needed after a fairly restless Thursday night.

This morning, Gaye and I took the dog for a a forty minute walk, and that wasn't too taxing either, so I hope its not too early to say "I'm back!"

Now for the downside. When I was changing from jimjams into walking gear this morning, for a few short seconds I was ...... nude .......... except for the belt which holds up the walkman-sized chemo pump which I wear on my left hip. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror, and I have to say that I have seen few stranger sights than me with all my new plumbing exposed! All over my chest, tubes running this way and that, descending to a couple of loops around the black pack on the hip - and the belt. And of course the dressings covering the portacath, which is in itself quite a visible presence on my chest. No wonder Gaye was finding it difficult to control herself!!

Another very small side affect is that I make funny noises when I move. The point of the needle in the portacath is scratching against the back plate, and every time I move my arm - to walk, for instance - there is quite an obvious scratching noise. I'll no doubt get used to it, and it will be a great party trick for the kids when they get down here next week.