Last Chemo .....for now, hopefully forever

so i had my last chemo on the 29th of july. i was very excited and looked forward to this day coming, but when it finally got here i was sad. i had brought chocolates and cards for all of nurses and almost spent the whole day crying. it was very surreal getting to the end but id be naive not to know that it may come back again at some point. i'll have to have PET scans every 3 months for 2 years then every 6 months for the next 3 years then every year and eventually every 2 years. i might feel like im always will be watching my back lol.

i had a ct scan a few days later and it all looked cleared but am yet to have a PET scan yet i need to fit it in when i can. 

adrian the bad luck chemo token

i had chemo on Tuesday and Adrian was going to come. i had actually forgotten to ask him to come until Thursday night, so he had to go to his boss on Friday and ask for Tuesday off, after the public holiday Monday. oops. so Adrian has only been to one chemo day and has met me at chemo twice before. we get there on Tuesday. my doctor is in London for two weeks so i had to go up to the step down unit to get my blood test. the head nurse looked at me and said how was i feeling i dont look to well. i had woken up with the flu on Monday morning, i had caught it off Adrian , who only had barely a cold, i wouldn't even know he was sick had he not told me. i tell sandy (the head nurse) that i had caught the flu and had only had 3 hours sleep because of this. she said hhmmm ok, we might not do chemo then. 5 minutes later she sent me home saying they didn't want to give me chemo which was only going to make me feel worse tomorrow morning and to come back next week.
this has been the 3rd time my chemo has been delayed and these 3 times have all been times Adrian has come with me. there has only been one occasion that he has been to chemo where i have actually gotten chemo! freaky!
so now im calling him but bad luck chemo charm. but dont take this as i dont want him there. i do! i just hope it dosnt get delayed again i cant afford it to be delayed as it will interfere with my holiday.
here is hoping on tuesday when he comes with me it dosnt get delayed lol

Chemo Sideaffects Sucks!

i was originally going to have this is as my status in facebook
but decided to vent here instead so i didnt get a million msgs on my wall and inbox asking what is wrong

so i woke up all crappy today which is unusual for a day after chemo i normally get a delayed reaction of nausea that hits me on Thursday or Friday.

so i was going to post it as my status but thought it would be best to do it here
anyway these are the side effects i could live without

1. nausea it sucks and i have a low tolerance for nausea lets leave it at that lol
2. the 5 tablets i have to have to get me going in the morning then tablets during the day to keep me going that dont take it completely away and i have to have food with it which is hard when ur nauseas
3. the bad taste (like metal) u get in your mouth that changes the way everything taste and turns u off some foods and makes u like others arhh!
4. the heighten sense of smell which sounds cool like a super hero or something but sucks when u put ur fav perfume on and it instantly makes you want to be sick and u really cant wash it off once its off even more irritating if u work it yesterday ( i decided against the match lipstick once i had that reaction lol)
5. the tiredness and exhaustion u have all the time, like today i fell asleep for 3 hours and when i woke up whwn adrian got home i thought it was 5.30 on thrsday morn and adrian was leaving work without saying goodbye. or two weeks ago when i slept all friday i fell asleep on my bed in the middle not even on pillow or anything. and two days before that feel asleep in front in my computer chair ( thats a bad influences i have picked up from Michael a fb friend, luckily today i new i was falling asleep and went up to bed before i did in the chair again. Lucian would of thought i had keyboard marks on my face.
6. putting on weight so im in between sizes again and have nothing to wear :( enough said !!!
7. losing my hair, makes me cold now , and leave me me with less clothing options , hair goes with everything!! actually ill only winge about the hair on my heads its cool not having to shave
8. bad memory i have shocking memory at the moment i forget days and what i did and what im doing i dont even remember the next thing that was on this list lol
9 so ill make one up (im actually not lying though) my uncontrollable thirst god and its not for water that i absolutely love and now cant drink cos of the mental taste (this has now turned into tow reasons) no i cant get enough coke, well diet coke, with ice, and the best cokes are the extra large ones form maccas i drank 3 of the the other day one after the other man which leads into my teeth feel like they are just going to fall out! god a big fear
10. now i remeber the real next on the list which was suppose to be up a bit higher so it can slip in unnoticed amongst the other gripes since ill be tagging this one
is sex now that im on chemo which is toxic chemicals beeing pumped into my body we cant risk passing these on to adrian or falling pregnant ( ohh the irony!!) and i cant go on the pill nor do i really want to so we had to use condoms. yik anyone who knows me i dont like them everything about them and they know why so i wont go into it too much information lol (however im not agisnt other ppl using them for safe sex purposes but since im married i cant hate them if i want to )
11. cos im on chemo i cant fall pregnant so its putting my life on hold! it sucks i wanted to be on maternity leave by now (with actually the 3rd baby!) but instead im on sick leave so this sucks and now im not working and in debt its going to hard to save and justify to others going back to ivf after chemo. arrhhh!

okay enough winging and im typing this in Siberia (which is actually warm tonight and i have no jukebox cos the net hates me using i tunes at the same time) so i keep getting bumped off thank god for auto save!!!

ciao (omg influences from aus chat yet there is Colombians in there again!)

jamata ( i wish i could speak fluent Japaneses

пока (ok i dont know russian i just put it in since im tagging Michael)

tchau ( Portuguese completely random )

okay enough byes im turning of the translator

chemo day with jen

i had chemo on tuesday after a week off, my veins were against me, the nurse couldn't find one then when he did the cannula wouldn't flush properly so it pooped out and he had to recannulate me on the other hand. so now i have 2 bruised wrists. becos i was booked in early i got home before 4pm a first for me i was excited! this chemo was my 6th treatment and the completion of my 3rd cycle so it officially marked the half way point in the cancer/ chemo journey.

Chemo day

i had chemo on tuesday and this is how the long day goes!

6.00am wake up soo tired from lack of sleep ( i dont sleep the best anymore)
have a shower get dressed,

6.20 in the car driving to Newtown/Camperdown/Redfern where ever you like to say RPA is

8.10 arive at the carpark

8.10 check into the heamatology unit, they get my blood order ready and put me in the cue for the blood sisters. im behind 12 people. blood test have to be run before i see my doctor so she can order the right doese of chemo and check my white cells if they are too low my chemo gets delayed. they are very busy since its tuesday a popular chemo day and the receptionist and the nurses are arguing

8.20 after checking in the waiting room is filled and im starving because i have 12 people in front of me i go and have some bacon and eggs in the cafeteria sooo yum.

8.40 i finish breakfast and head back to the waiting room. i play brain trainging on my ds and listening to the young copules conversation, they are lucky if they are 20 and have just started dating.

9.15 i get called in for my blood test. exciting they use they butterfly shringe so it dosnt hurt and i let them take it out of my right arm.

9.30 peter (adrians dad) arrives

10.00ish i go see my doctor, claire my doctor is on holidays so i have registar (if you watch american medical shows our versions of residents) her name is ming hou.
she checks me out and orders my chemo and all the anti nausea drugs whiuch is confusing for both of us since she hasnt done mine before.

10.30 we head over to the page building. this is where the out patient chemist is and where i need to get some of my anti nausea drugs and my white cell injection from. the page building is a decrepit and depressing building i hate going into and im glad that the heamotologist unit has been moved to the main building now ( not that i ever went there when heam was in the page building)
the way the chemist is run is toatly maronic!
there is 3-4 chemist working at any one time.
you go up to the in conter if no one is there you take a number, then you wait to be called, you then take your script hand it in get a new number and a docket and go to the cashiers counter and pay for the drugs. you can only pay cash or credit (who dosent own a eftpost machine these days?) then you wait while the chemist gets your order ready.
okay that description doesnt sound long. but it is. the chemist are soo rude and if you dont know the procedure they yell at you. there is a sign above the in counter explaining the procedure and that the wait is 45mins. ha on a good day.
i walk in and its packed!! i take a number, yea its one and wait probably 20-30 mins to be called up. then step over to the cashier who takes about 10mins (i swear she was soooo slow!) to wright the numbers down from the credit card (they do this because lack of eftpost machine!)
i take a new number 35 and sit back down. the guy next to me has number 29, 10 mintues later they call out number 24! oh my god its 11.10 am i ever going to leave the page building?!
there is an anoying 3 yr old with his mum who keeps yelling and peter and i start joking with this lady who just came in about how long it takes in here.

11.50 i leave peter to pick up the meds and fill my other script at the normal chemist and head up to glouster house ( its now a house. its a building next to RPA and is sydney cancer clinic the chemo suit is on level 5.)
i check in at reception and make an appointment for a fornights time then go up to to check in with the chemo nurses and give them my medical chart.
there is a small problem with my med order i take Emend (anti nausea drug) an hour before chemo then two days after and ming has order the wrong dosage of emend so the nurse has to get her to fix it.
12.15 i take my emend and wait while doing mega hard sudukos and the chemo pharmacy starts making my chemo
1.00 peter arrives he finally got out of the page building! i check my drugs and realise i was only giving 4 antivan which covers 2 days and i need enough to cover me for the fornight. i call heam and page ming to come up with a new script for antivan.
now my chemo is a special chemo (its an agressive form called ABVD, its made up of 4 diffrent drugs) so i need accreditated nurses to give it to me. and there is only 2-3 nurse who work there that are accreditated to give me my chemo.
1.30 my chemo is ready and taking away to be put in line
1.45 i check on my progress , im next but i need to wait for the my nurses.
1.45-2.50 im waiting and i dont really care how long it is peter has made a complaint to the team leader nurse and has got a number for his supervisor.
2.50 glenn my chemo nurse comes and gets me. i get nice and comfortable in the chair,
glenn gives 6 anti nausea meds and checks all the chemos
i then get caneulaided, doesnt hurt glenns good. i get hooked up to saline and the first 3 chemo drugs get shringed in with sailine. this takes half an hour.
3.45 the last chemo gets hooked up to the drip and saline i msg adrian to tell him to meet us at glouster house to come home
6.00 yea my chemo is finished and we head home!