Friday 7 December 2012

Day one - Chemo infusion

infusion /in·fu·sion/ (in-fu´zhun)
1. the steeping of a substance in water to obtain its soluble principles.
2. the product obtained by this process.
3. the therapeutic introduction of fluid other than blood into a vein.

I've had number 3 of the above definition today, for 10 hours. We arrived at the Christie this morning for 08:50am, for our 9am appointment. Thankfully the drugs had been ordered and we were directed to the waiting room while my chair was prepared for me. 
20 mins later and the chair was good to go, however, the nurse, Hannah, decided that as we were there all day, we'd be better off in a bed, a private bed no less in our own room with a lovely view of the front of the hospital. After yesterdays cock up, that was nice. 
So, cannula in, drugs assembled and the infusion can begin. Only 10 hours to go. 
The first bit is the hardest, as this is the very toxic and strongest form of chemotherapy drug that can be administered in this way, it's introduced by syringe manually as the fluids with anti-sickness drugs are going in. Bit by bit, Hannah pushes the drugs in over the next hour and a half. 
After that, there's another lot of fluids and then another bag of chemo drugs, this time going in the line normally over 4 hours. The manifest for my drugs is here: 
Then another load of fluids, interspersed with a spot of morning snacks, lunch, afternoon snacks and the occasional brew. 
And that was it, at 21:20 all done, cannula out, room tidy, bags packed and on our way back to the car and home. 

So, side effects? Non, nada, nothing, nilch. I feel 100% while I'm writing this at 22:47 on Friday night. To be honest, that's a bit of an anti-climax really. I was expecting to be puking my guts up by now, or feel some sort of nausea, but I guess the anti-sickness drugs I've had today have stopped that in its tracks. 
I've now got 21 days worth of chemo tablets to take at home, along with some anti-sickness and a few steroids to boost my system tomorrow and Sunday. After that, it's back to the Christie to do it all over again. 

Once again, I'd like to thank all of you who have given me messages of support over the last 2 days, and also those of you who've been supporting me throughout. Your words really lifted me out of the doldrums yesterday and gave me the support I needed. 

Thank you xx

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