Last Tuesday, I went to the Cancer therapy centre to have my 3rd round of chemo therapy. It was an early start, and the lovely nurse who was looking after me on that day was able to put the needle into my port on the first go! That was great, considering the actual Dr. who inserted the port took 4 goes, and the nurse that tried the next time took 2 goes. It really is getting better!
Everything went well with the infusions through the port. First, they attach a saline solution and an anti nausea solution, and that takes an hour to take effect, then they can get started with the other bags of chemo. There are 3 different drugs, and it takes about 4 hours to go in. Lunch is usually a sandwich and a little apple juice. I usually have to wait a while till they get to room temperature because one of the drugs makes you very sensitive to cold. Cold food, cold air, cold water, cold floors, anything cold that you touch or breathe, makes you tingle (in a bad way) and cramp up. I usually wear a cardigan and long pants, warm sox and this time, I took some cotton gloves and that helped. The photo I put in an older post of me in the blue chair with a white blanket covering me gives you a good idea of what it looks like on the chemo day 1. The tingling and cramping effect seems to be worse for the first 3 days, but I can't cut cold cucumber or handle things from the freezer for most of that week. Tonight, my husband had to make the meat patties for our hamburgers, because the meat mix was too cold for me to touch. In the night when the air cools, I often wake up with a sore chest, and that is just from breathing in the cooler air. Air conditioning is not my friend any more. I can't eat ice cream in the first week because it hurts my throat, or an icy pole! Never mind, if the drugs are doing their job, I can live with these few side effects. Sometimes I even feel lucky that I haven't been hit with worse side effects! I am lucky!
Once all the chemo drugs are finished, the nurse attaches a bottle to my port, and I put it into my little blue pouch on a belt, and I can go home. The photo underneath shows me wearing the bottle at home. It's a bit tricky having a shower, and I still have it attached for 2 nights, so I'm very glad to be able to take the belt off once the bottle is detached on day 3.
My lovely daughter bought me this bright dress because its bright and happy, but mainly because it was one of the only dresses we could find with buttons down the front, so I can thread the line from the port to the bottle out to my waist so it's not too exposed. I went back and bought another 2 of the same style but different fabric.
This is the bottle which goes inside the blue bag on the belt. This photo was taken on day 2 in the morning. If you look carefully, you can see a sort of balloon inside the bottle. This balloon is what contains the chemo, and it slowly pushes the drug through the fine tube and port and into me. By day 3, the balloon is deflated, and it can be removed. I look forward to day 3 because I don't have to sleep with the belt and the bottle, but I also dread it because for some reason, as soon as the bottle comes off, I seem to feel worse. You never know what will happen next, it seems a bit different every time, but I can truly say that none of it has been as bad as I thought it would be so far. Thank you God!
I thought you might be interested to see what a colostomy bag looks like. This one has to be changed after every movement, but you can get other ones that have a roll up Velcro closing drainage point so you can empty them if you need to. The fabric they are made of is quite comfortable and they are quite secure. These particular bags have softer glue than the drainable ones. I've had a couple of occasions where the glue has lifted underneath, with horrible results. It's a lot of getting used to. I haven't told you about the fact that I now have no control over passing wind. It can be so embarrassing in a quiet place if that happens. I'm starting to like noisy places, because I'm less likely to feel embarrassed. I don't know how I'll go with travelling. It's all new and I feel like I'm juggling a lot of things, but I have so much to be thankful for. A husband who never blinked an eye when he saw my colostomy bag, who just loves me because he does! My children, who have grown into caring and thoughtful adults, my friends who all want to help in any way they can. So many things to be thankful for!
By the way, my full time job now is to maintain my weight! I spent so much time trying to lose weight, and now, I mustn't lose any weight, I need to stay the same. I'm doing well at this job I'm happy to say. How life changes!
