Intravenous Domestos - part 3

Round three of intravenous domestos came around very quickly. I had been pretty fortunate so far that my side effects hadn't been as horrific as I had thought. The benefit of having a very active imagination is that the reality is never as bad as what you create in your head. The thing with chemo is that it is accumulative. So it's not like the more you have the more your body gets used to it and the side effects lessen. The more you have, the worse it gets. I was well prepared for chemo treatment, I had lathered on the numbing cream to the point where I couldn't feel half my chest. However, I still find the whole plunging a needle into my chest thing quite uncomfortable. Again, I think that is due to my over active imagination and the not so distant memory of having the needle plunged into my chest seven times.

I had my blood tests done and my white cell count was very low. This meant that my immunity was getting hammered, which is a sign that the chemo is doing its job, which is good, but not good for my immunity. I had to have an injection to increase my white cell count the day after chemo. This particular injection cost $2000. I have vowed never to complain about paying my health insurance ever again! I was told that this was done in your bone marrow and can cause discomfort - but only in the parts of your body that you have bones. So basically from head to toe I was going to be in a world of pain. Usually the week of chemo I keep a very low profile and stay at home. However, I ventured out the next day to the doctor to have my injection. I know it is sad, but I was excited to be venturing out of the house, which is a sad reflection of my social life. The days following the injection, I felt like an old man - tired, cranky, bald, hadn't pooped in days and and aching in my bones.

As it happened, this was also the week I had to go back to the fertility doctor for my pubis pellet implant to stop my ovulation. I had to have this done every 28 days to try and preserve the eggs I have left. It is not dissimilar to having a dog microchipped and involved another very large needle going through my skin. I also employed the use of the numbing cream for this process. Having well and truly succombe to 'chemo brain', I could never remember which side the pellet had to be implanted, so always ended up smearing far too much cream and couldn't feel my pubis for a good three hours. However, I felt lucky to be getting out of the house twice in a week! I think my poor body went into shock with the chemo, bone injection and pubis pellet implant in the space of five days. It took a good ten days to go back to feeling less horrid.

Round three was done, which meant one more round of these drugs and then onto the new drugs, which caused another level of anxiety!