Today I headed into hospital for my check-up with my oncologist and to start round 10 of chemo.
Luck was on my side first up. With the weather improved from last night I was able to go for my standard pre-chemo walk. My appointment for my oncology review was also pretty on time.
Unfortunately my white blood cell count from Saturday’s tests had come back a little low, at 1.0 cells/microlitre. The cut-off point for chemo is a minimum of 1.3 cells/microlitre. This meant that before my oncologist could give the go ahead for chemo I needed to have my blood tests redone.
Between the wait for pathology, the wait for blood analysis & the doctor’s review of the results after my initial appointment at 9am my chemo didn’t end up starting until 2:30pm. (I didn’t know my wait would be this long though!)
The silver lining
With several hours to kill after my blood tests I wandered down to my second home, the Wellness Centre at the Peter Mac. Here there are a tea and coffee facilities, comfy couches, sleeping pods, even a couple of computers for patients and their support crew. Throughout the week there are various talks, seminars and activities to take part in.
Today I certainly got lucky with the monthly ‘Food for Thought’ cooking class on. I got to watch and learn hotw to cook Chickpea Falafels with Tabbouleh, Oyster Mushroom, Tofu & Onion Jam Tortillas and Pan the Higo Con Nueces (Fig, Date and Nut Rolls). We also got to sample all that we cooked so lunch was sorted!
Having the day not go to plan and then waiting hours to get my test results and learn the new plan was hard. I’ve gotten used to waiting for appointments & don’t go into hospital empty handed. That said, a 5 hour wait before anyone could give me a new plan for the day was did test my patience. I’m grateful for today’s cooking class for the distraction, tasty food, discussions about food and the opportunity to meet another cancer survivor in Valentin our chef today.
Chemo update
When the blood tests came through they showed that my white blood cell count had risen to 3.2 cells/microlitre giving me the thumbs up to continue with round 10 of 12. Due to cumulative side effects of chemo starting to take their toll, in particular my peripheral neuropathy (numbness and cold sensitivity in my hands & feet) my oncologists have decided its time to start reducing the number of chemo drugs I have. I am no longer having oxaliplatin or irinotecan and will finish the final 3 rounds of chemo with 5FU only.
My original target was to make it through 6 rounds with all 3 drugs so I’m pretty happy to have stuck through 9 rounds with all three drugs. A big bonus of moving to one drug is that my time in day therapy reduced from 9 hours to 2 hours. I have a couple of quick infusions in the chair, then get hooked up to my take-away bottle. Despite the late start to day therapy I was home at 5pm today!
Here’s to the final chemo countdown, patience when things don’t go to plan & continuing to look for my silver linings.
Cancer at 30 