Well the day has arrived the outpatient prodding and poking about has finished for the time being it is now time for the serious business to start it is now June 29th and I am going into Barts to start my first chemotherapy I have to say at this point I didn't feel Ill I felt like you have got the wrong man in this bed lol.
The next day arrived and so did the two chemotypes Daunorubicin aka (the red devil) followed by Cytarabine both potent chemotherapy drugs these drugs were administered to me every day for one week I forgot to mention the first day of admission to Barts a pick line was inserted into my upper arm which leads to a larger vein in my chest so that drugs can be administered without the need for injections blood tests can also be taken from the same pick line good when it works not so great when it doesn't work sometimes they can get blocked and some times you may get an infection where it goes into your arm, on the whole, they are a great idea.
Like most people who are going through this type of treatment, you hear all sorts of horror stories about the chemo I have to say at this point I didn't feel sick It Is fair to say I didn't have any really bad side effects, the chemo stopped and for the next three weeks, I had to stay in hospital to recover after the second-week things started to change blood levels start to go downhill rapidly this is to be expected platelets drop red blood cells drop you will become neutropenic meaning your white blood cells are wiped out and you then become more prone to infections it doesn't mean you will.
After about four weeks in the hospital, your blood counts should have recovered enough for you to go home and get over the first barrage of chemo trust me you will feel like you have been hit by a bus within two weeks you will start to feel better take things slowly trust me on that when I came home I thought it would be a great idea to go and chop some logs with the axe big mistake in your head you think you can do anything, in reality, your body screams no you can't do that.
You will only be home for a short time usually about three weeks but while you are at home the hospital is in close contact with you via a cancer nurse specialist (CNS) Sam is my nurse and is fantastic nothing is too much trouble I have never come across anybody so dedicated and involved Sam is truly one in a million I feel lucky to have her in my care plan
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