Survived Fourth Chemo

Went to hospital for fourth Chemo today. Got the needle and line plumbed in then the nurse gave me ondansetron (anti sickness) then piriton which added to the steroids is supposed to further prevent allergic reaction.

She told me that the usual dose of Piriton from the chemist was 4mg and that they warn it may make you drowsy. She was about to stick me with 10mg direct in to the vena cava via the jugular vein, so she had some concerns about me possibly driving afterwards.

Luckily my sister had already decided that morning that she would chaffeur me given that we didn't know what the new drugs would be like. So she was right.

The nurse also warned that I might fall asleep. I was determined that this would not happen on my first occasion of being left on my own in the public chair section of the Unit! I have never been able to sleep upright in chairs anyway.

The nurse starts the Docetaxel drip and I have my first go at wheeling the drip stand affair across the room. It was easier than I thought. I was set up in my reclining chair and started watching the machine count down the hour it would take for the bag to drip through. Got bored of that with 53 minutes still left so Helen took the opportunity to take complete advantage of my drugged up state by beating me at Monopoly for the first time in her life.

I didn't even know when it was my go. I might not even have had all my goes. I demand a re-match.

Of course one would think that the steroids might have helped with this, however I have established something else about them. Upon asking the nurse why I still didn't feel like training hard at the gym or doing excessive athletics she reminded me that there were different types of steroids and I then recalled that the steroids I am on are corticosteroids whereas the ones the naughty athletes (allegedly) take are anabolic steroids. So I want a refund on my ones now.

Anyway back to important stuff, I didn't have a drastic allergic reaction and I am still here. The side effects have not kicked in yet. Whatever happens I have been glad to see the back of FEC as the effects of that were becoming cumulative. The nurse thinks that I should avoid sinus pain getting worse again this time as that is mainly a characteristic of FEC, so fingers crossed. I also found out that the joint pain if I get it may only last 72 hours, not the entire three week cycle as I feared. So it's all good, but who knows what will come later on this evening...!