Being told I would need countless rounds of radiation and to have chemo simultanously was daunting. I have watched enough TV programs (and we all know Hollywood never gets it wrong!) to know that people with cancer get sick. Real sick. I was going to lose my hair, get that bloated puffy cancer look, be too weak to move, need tons of drugs, blah blah blah...... I think everyone was expecting that I was going to be 'sick' - my entire family rallied together to be with me and help me through this, for which I am extremely grateful, and don't know how I can ever thank them enough for putting their lives on hold and supporting me through everything.
So I have been living each day of treatment basically waiting for the ball to drop. Yes, I've had a few symptoms here and there, but nothing extreme like I was led to believe, and nothing that I can't cope with. I've been doing everything I've been told - eating what they tell me, taking the drugs that they tell me to, if they tell me to do it, I'll do it. And now here I am, heading into the final week, and STILL waiting for it all to turn to crap and all these symptoms to show up (and trying really really hard not to relax and get cocky thinking this cancer stuff is really easy!)
Now the usual routine after chemo - they load me with steriods on the day, and I take a magic anti-puking pill that night, and then take steriods for 3 more days to keep the nausea at bay. And it works a treat. I've had no issues with nausea at all. Thank god - anyone who knows me well will know how much I can't stand vomit (I even tell my patients to not vomit near me, for which quite a few are very obliging!). This final round of chemo however - it was not going to let me take it unnoticed. For the first time, I had nausea in a bad way. Bad enough I had to crack open the "just in case, but you probably won't need them" supply of anti-puking pills. Plus I had headaches, reflux, and just felt like crap. Now ok, in the big scheme of things, I know....suck it up sunshine, people have it way worse. But it annoyed me that I managed to make it so far, and NOW I was getting all the symptoms? Ugh.
Friday marked my review with the oncologist. She acknowledged that I was breezing through all of the treatment, and that yes, I was pretty lucky to have so few side effects. The only concern she had was my magnesium levels being so low, and whether I should start taking a supplement to help correct it. Great, more drugs. But the kicker - the magnesium supplement would most likely give me diarrhoea, one side effect I have managed to avoid so far. Now the real dilemma for me - if I start taking the supplement now, I'll have diarrhoea, which they then need to stop for when I get the internal radiation because they don't want me pooping while I'm connected to the radiation. So I'm not sure whether to start it now or wait until after the internal radiation is done. Besides, the magnesium levels will take months to correct anyway!
The oncologist also did a quick exam to see how the tumour is "looking". On the PV exam, she could feel that the tumour had definitely shrunk, and she estimated it to be half the size. She tried to do a rectal exam to feel the tumour from that angle, as it was difficult to feel the back of it around my cervix due to how it was positioned. However, this is when we discovered another little side effect of the radiation. My bum hole has shrunk! (sorry if this is more than you needed to know - but I did promise to share everything!) no wonder I've had issues going to the bathroom. She couldn't even insert her tiny little Asian finger. My bum is tighter than....how does that saying go? I can't remember. But suffice to say, the tumour is responding well to treatment. The oncologist was very happy with this - as she said, I haven't even finished the treatment yet and it's already half the size. This is very promising. But this will all get confirmed when I have my MRI prior to starting my internal radiation.
3 more zaps to go now. Very excited that the end is in sight!
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