3rd Chemo Session

On Friday November 12th we went to hospital for the last round of chemo before my surgery which is scheduled for December 8th in London.  Dylan accompanied us as well so he missed a couple of periods of school that day.  He wanted to see what happens in chemotherapy.  I am sure it was mostly boring for him but it is now less mysterious. 

I am given a cocktail of drugs before the actual chemo and they make me quite drowsy.  I will sleep for short periods and then wake up a bit groggy and incoherent.  At one point I had been dreaming and woke up laughing about something.  Dylan found this quite amusing. 

Since chemo I have been feeling the usual flu like symptoms but I also have been prescribed a higher dosage of Gabapentin to relieve the inevitable pain in the leg muscles and joints.  It seems to be working. Doctor also suggested Ibuprofen and as a back up a prescription of Tylenol 3 just in case.

On November 16th I went to hospital for a CT Scan.  This is in preparation of the surgery. What a zoo.  They were backed up due to emergencies so the wait was excruciating.  I wasn't feeling well due to chemo and for CT Scan you must drink 2 big glasses of contrasting liquid in one hour.  To me it tastes like pool water.  They certainly don't dress it up or anything.  At least at St. Mary's hospital it was a flavoured smoothie that was at least drinkable.  They also inject iodine via an IV during the procedure.  While in the apparatus this gives you a metal taste in your mouth (which I already have), makes you feel hot and you feel like you are peeing yourself (which you are not).  Eventually it was all over - actual scan procedure takes only 5 minutes.  The whole thing was 3 1/2 hours and I was finally out of there.  One final comment.... the nurses who were very busy did a great job of getting patients organized and ready for procedure while being very gracious and conscious of the delays.  They did they best to hurry things along.  It is a difficult job.