Skip to main content

Post Operative Journey to Chemotherapy

 At my post-operative appointment on 16th September with Mr Baig he review the operation and the pathology of the 90mm section of removed colon. The tumour was fully removed, one of the 15 lymph nodes that were included in the section was cancerous and there were a few microscopic specks on the outside of the colon wall. He said that chemotherapy could be offered on a belt and braces approach to deal with any lingering risk.

I of course said yes and then had an appointment on 7th October with Dr Webb and oncology consultant. He also reviewed the pathology of the cancerous section of colon. He then went though his preferred chemotherapy plan. 6 cycles of infusion and oral tablets repeated over 2 week periods. 

The first treatment started on 4th October with covid-19 test training on 1st October along with a blood test. This was followed with an information appointment of Tuesday 2nd, this was with Sarah.

My chemotherapy appointment was 9.45 am and I was driven by a friend to the hospital and taken in to the chemotherapy suite by the same nurse, Sarah. She was working with staff nurse Abbie who inserted the short needled canula in to a vein on the side of my left arm and plumbed up. After my blood pressure, pulse and oxygenation level had been taken. 

The pumped infusion was explained and it was to take 2 hours. Fortunately I had no significant challenges with the infusion. There have been some interesting side effects since arriving home. First was a tenderness on the front of my left forearm. The painful bite that Ruth Mayre flagged up happen for about from the afternoon until the following lunchtime. I also had a raised pulse rate at 99 bpm.

The most unexpected effect was was the cold air on my face. 

Taking the tablets on day two was uneventful apart from hiccoughs after meals.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Chemotherapy Cycle 26

Tuesday 16th January 9:45 I arrived at the Amberley unit at Worthing Hospital for my 26th cycle of the FOLFORI chemotherapy treatment. While the process took longer than normal due to a delay in the drugs arriving, but it was easier than usual. As always I am interested in learning useful knowledge. With the clinical educator overseeing the nurse who was at the end of his training I learnt some interesting things. Training takes 5 months, patients can remain on the treatment for a great many cycles. They have had patients who have had 100 plus. The side-effects have been at a much lower lever than normal, wonderful.

4000hz

I have taken a look recently on the iPhone App Store to see if there are any useful tools to restart a distraction program again. Having reduced the irritating high pitched whistle that I constantly have on both sides four years ago though distraction it may work again. Having quietened the tinnitus before only for it to be brought back by my car alarm going off while in it. Being exposed to very loud noise makes my tinnitus increase in volume, so another attempt at distraction seems worth the effort. The first app investigated was Tinnitus Finder by Desyncra for Tinnitus , its free to download. This app took me through a series of pairs of sounds each time asking which sounded most like my own issue. At the end of the process the app reported that the noise I hear is around 4000 hz. Armed with this knowledge I sent in search for an app that would offer a selection of sounds from White Noise to sounds of nature. The Beltone Tinnitus Calmer  offers up to five different sounds ...

My audiology appointment

About a month ago I had an appointment with an audiologist at the Royal Free Hospital in Bath. The purpose was to discover if, as the majority of tinnitus suffers do I have a hearing loss. I was taken into a sound proof room for the test. After being asked about my hearing and the issues I am having with tinnitus I was handed headphones to put on and a push button. The audiologist explained the test and with head phones he proceeded to test my hearing. This was done by playing sounds at frequencies between 250 hz and 8000 hz. Once over I was shown the results which showed that it is pretty normal across the range in both ears. So this meant that I am not a suitable candidate for a hearing aid. The audiologist suggested the Hearing Therapy should be something I should consider. I agreed and he wrote to St Martin's where the local hearing therapy team is based to ask for me to be seen by one of the therapists.