Chemo begins (again!)

Yesterday afternoon I had my first chemo of this second batch. We went to visit the 'Fearless Girl' statue in Paternoster Square just before my chemo appointment, so I could take some 'fearless' vibes in with me. So far I'm feeling pretty good. I slept well, I have very mild nausea but it didn't stop me eating a delicious dinner last night and breakfast this morning, so that's a good sign. I'm being cautious though, as sometimes the side effects don't kick in for a few days, so let's not get too jubilant. Definitely a lot better than my first chemo last time. (Tanai and I have been reminiscing about it, and I unearthed a few buried memories!) I also started taking my anti-sickness meds and steroids this morning and although I only have to take them for 3 days, I remember that some of my worst side effects last time were from the drugs designed to combat the side effects of chemo (ah, the irony).

Fearless girls

Receiving my infusion

Crafting during chemo

So, a bit of an update on the last few days. I have been doing quite a lot of prep for chemo, including spending most of Wednesday in hospital testing my kidney function, as that's how they determine the chemo dose. I had to go in at 9am to have a cannula fitted, and then they injected me with radioactivity, and then I had to go back every hour until 3pm to get my bloods taken from the cannula. The nurse got the cannula in first go (we were jubilant, remember my veins were destroyed by my last chemo) but unfortunately three different nurses tried 8 times to get the needle in for the radioactivity, and every time they found a vein it collapsed. In the end, they had to put it in my foot! I've never had needles in my foot before, it was kind of weird, but it worked.

On Wednesday I also had deja-vu as I went in for my pre-chemo appointment! The ward sister said 'Welcome back' and then explained that of course she wasn't welcoming me back as in 'isn't it great you're back' but that at least if I have to be there on the chemo ward there is a warm welcome for me. We rattled through the instructions, because of course I'm an old hand at this, but I was pleased to hear there have been some changes since I last had chemo. They always solicit patient feedback and they are responding to that feedback. Sometimes I would wait for hours in the waiting room or on the ward, as the drugs can take ages to come from the pharmacy. They have apparently improved the pharmacy procedure, and they are also communicating better about when things will be ready, so that instead of 'oh you're on the list' they can at least estimate when they will be ready. And they are introducing a pager system, where you will receive one of those little buzzers you get in some restaurants, and you can go off and hang out in a cafe, the Bart's quad or the Maggie's centre, and they will buzz you when it's time to come back up to the ward. Pretty cool!

The Bart's quad and fountain

It's been 6 weeks since my surgery and I'm healing well. Scar update photo below, so don't scroll if you don't want to see it! It's all completely healed now, which is great. I'm massaging it twice a day with oil and it's looking very neat and not too bad. I'm doing as many little walks as I can, to get my fitness levels back up slowly, and some gentle physio to get my strength back. My resting heart rate has gone right back up to 75 after the surgery (it was 58 when I was at my fittest last year) so I'm keen to get this down to improve my general health. After a couple of weeks of little walks it is already down to 72 so that's good. But it doesn't take much these days to get my heart rate up, so I can see my fitness levels have a long way to go. I love how much my fitbit helps me monitor my own health and fitness. One thing that I'm struggling with a bit since surgery is my changed digestive system. When they had me opened up on the operating table, the surgeon removed my intestines to have a look at them and check for cancer, so there has been a readjustment period since he put them back in. Also they have so much more room now as loads of other things have been removed! I've been eating really healthy food and trying to make sure I have plenty of fibre, but every time I eat, my stomach gets hard and swells right up. It's swollen quite a bit anyway, but it gets really distended after a meal. I suppose it will take a while to get back to normal (or a 'new normal') but it's something I have to be really careful about. And it's being really sensitive to certain foods, especially sweet ones. I can't eat too much in one sitting and I'm avoiding eating too many sweet things. It's great that my body can talk to me and tell me what it needs!

Okay here's the scar. It's actually much longer, it extends further below the belly button than above, but I'm not flashing my pubes online, ha ha. I love the way the surgeon swerved to avoid my belly button, even though that already has scars in as it's where they put the camera in for my first surgery!

So unless anything major happens, I'll update you all after my second chemo on 6 June.