Chemo 3 And An Update

NOTHING went as planned. So shitty and got a bit teary. Fil and Mil stayed the night on Monday as FIL was taking the kids to school and then picking them up in the afternoon off the bus. Mil drove me to hospital and we arrived at 7.20. I checked in at admissions and then headed to day surgery to wait. A nurse called me in to do my obs. I have lost 2kg since my operation (I think I would have been a bit lower if I hadn't eated out with Mum and Dad so many times last week). My blood counts were good as were the rest of my obs. The nurse told me she was 15 months out of her breast cancer treatment and doing well. She gave me a few tips to help with the nausea. Fruit tingles (already had these for the metallic taste in my mouth), but they are also used to help with the nauseous feeling, pineapple softdrink and icy poles (to prevent thrush). Not sure if they will work but I will give it a go. When I was getting changed one of the nurses knocked on the door to change my arm band as they had forgotten to give me the morphine allergy one. After the mix up after my op and they gave it too me for two days without me knowing.

8.30, I said goodbye to MIL and was taken off for the procedure and prepped. Laying around for ages when the nurse comes over to tell me the doctor hasn't turned up and they can't contact him. No one can do my port. It will have to be put off another week as well as chemo as my veins are too bad. Well that's when things got a little teary. I told them I wasn't leaving until something was done as I needed to have chemo today so that I finish a few weeks before Christmas and don't feel crappy over that time. After many phone calls. Even the poor nurse was upset for me they found a doctor that would put a pic line in so that chemo could go ahead. The doctor did the procedure under ultrasound and placed the pic line in my inner upper arm and threaded the line through a vein up my arm and into my chest area into a larger vein. He told me I have very thin veins and had a hard time putting it in. I was feeling so much happier once it was in place and knowing I would have chemo (never thought I would be asking for chemo lol)

The nurse that prepped me and helped with my pic line started chatting to me during the procedure and told me she was familar with my writing for Scrapbook Creations and had been a follower over the years of my articles. How cool is that. Kept my mind off what the doctor was doing that's for sure. Would have loved to have chatted to her under different circumstances lol

After the procedure was finished and the pic line was secured in place I headed down to oncology with a nurse (as I wasn't allowed to hold my own file lol in case I read it or lost it). I will have to go to the GP every week to have the pic line flushed and redressed. A bit more of a hassle than having a port but hopefully it will last unti the end of treatement well. It's more a pain as my arm is bandaged and covered in waterproof bandages. I have some lovely bruising and I am a little sore when moving my arm around but other than that it's not too bad.

Later that day I was having chemo and was being interviewed by a student doctor. He ran through my diagnosis and said I was HER2 + when I had been told I was negative. It was handwritten on one sheet and also on a typed sheet. Not happy at all and a fewe more tears flowed,( I havent' been this teary in ages) so they finally found a doctor to talk to me and explain. They are still saying I am negative but it has made me so shitty that you have to keep a constant watch on things. There should be no discrepancies in your results. What if a new doctor came in and read the wrong data. Meet some lovely ladies in chemo yesterday. One lady, like me has breastcancer and had a mastectomy a day after I had my lumpectomy. We finish treatment on the same day although she doesn't have to have radiation but does have to have herceptin. Another girl has soft cell cancer. She has a 5% chance of surviving 5 years. It really makes you realise that there are many far worse off than you.

Not feeling too bad so far today. Waiting for it to hit me tomorrow like last time. Today I have managed to eat two slices of toast for breakfast and a salad roll for lunch. A bit better than the last two sessions. I got extra anti nausea tablets yesterday to see if it will keep the nausea at bay. I take Navoban (one tablet) for the first two days along with Dexmethsone (one tablet) for the first two days. Each day I feel nauseous after that I take one Pramin tablet every four hours. These tablets don't seem to help at all although I am sure I would feel much worse not taking them. This time I will take Demthsone for two days more along with the Pramin. They had to get it authorised for me to take it. Hoping that it will do the job.

Today I had my first shot of Nuelasta. This is to boost my white blood cells and hopefully keep my levels on track for finishing in time for Christmas. I will have the shot the day after chemo every three weeks and it's given by my GP so I don't have to drive to Ballarat to the hospital. It doesn't have the nicest side effects (severe bone pain) but I am hoping I am one of the few who copes ok on it.

It is lovely and hot here today. Very very windy and there are many fires in the state and surrounding areas today. Tomorrow is a total fire band. Thinking of the people near Hobart where 1000 homes have been evacuated due to the large fire threatening homes.