Just finished my 6 days of chemo and I get my stem cells back today and that’s the last of my treatment.
After the carry on of having my Hickman line removed, I had a new one put in on Thursday and on Friday they started my first lot of chemo. A 2 hour session and when that was finished, I was given a backpack with a machine in programmed to give me chemo while I was away from the hospital. It was only giving my 2 x 10 mins of chemo, 12 hours apart but I had to take this backpack wherever I went. Even came with me for a Jimmy Riddle!!
Going back to Thursday, we moved into the a hospital flat in Sheffield, which is very nice, clean and comfortable and only a 2 minute walk from the main entrance at the Hallamshire. Mel obviously brought enough stuff to last about 6 months and covered all seasons and weathers (I’d have been disappointed if she hadn’t). The whole process with the staff and hospital has been great and of the highest standard, although not a pick on my mates from Hasland Ward.
I had such a nice surprise on Sunday when my brother Craig turned up to see and I knew nothing about it. It really lifted my spirits to another level, although initially I was that shocked I thought he was one of the staff working on site and it took a few minutes to sink in. Turning up armed with a savaloy dip and a copy of the new Viz book (he also brought me a copy of the Sunday Sport but for some reason I didn’t get the chance to read about the wonderful sport stories that were inside) it was fantastic to see him.
I was told that this chemo I was given was on another lever from any chemo I’d have already had and I can’t disagree with that. It has wiped me out and I have been sleeping for hours each day, also grabbing a nana nap and ready for bed at about 9pm. I also had my first real side effect, when on Tuesday, my mouth broke out into a load of sores and that was quite uncomfortable. As I type this now, I still have the sores but they have settled down a bit, most probably to the wonder of codeine!
Wednesday as always down to be the big day, this is the day I was given the ‘BEAM’ chemo. Described as industrial strength and although it only took 30 mins to get into my system, I can feel some sort of effect on me. In fact I barely slept with some side effects and the deep joy of the steroids. Worse case scenario on the side effects, I can look forward to uncontrollable diarrhoea, vomiting, lack of appetite........deep joy!!
The stem cell replacement is another world of scientific wonderments, my stem cells are frozen to -200c and then when they are ready to go back into me, they are removed from the freezer and dipped into a bath of water which is the same temperature as my body temp. As soon as they are defrosted, the nurses have 15 minutes to get the bag of stem cells back into me and the process is repeated for bag.
I’ve now got a couple of weeks recovery and fingers are firmly crossed for good news.