Chemo

Chemo began this week. So far it’s been fine – three needles filled with azacitidine to the belly Monday. Three more on Tuesday just below the first three. Each needle takes less than 30 seconds. Once I arrived at PMH and check in, they pull the azacitidine out of the freezer and prepare it. It takes about an hour to prepare, so we wait in the waiting room for about 90 minutes before getting called. Then I go in and get the three needles. Each time I’m there, the nurse is very friendly and answers questions patiently. She grabs a nurse practitioner or a pharmacist to answer my other questions. Between Friday’s blood check appointment and the Monday and Tuesday appointments, I bet I spent a good 90 minutes just having questions patiently answered.

We’re two days in and I’ve only felt nauseous after a big meal. Instead, I feel headache-y in the morning, and all of my joints and neck are stiff. On the second day I was exhausted and actually went to bed at 9pm, thinking I’d get up at midnight to do some work because at that moment I couldn’t think straight and needed a nap. Instead, I slept through to 8am. I take the two anti-nausea pills in the morning. I’ve refrained from taking the other anti-nausea pills after the treatment. And so far that’s been okay.  There has been some pinkness around where the needles go, but it looks like this lasts about three days (the ones from the first day are already fading). I’ve been told that these could get itchy, but that hasn’t happened yet.

If chemo gets no worse than this, I can definitely handle it. I don’t expect that to be the case. It’s the morning of Day 3.

Friends and family have been supportive. That’s an understatement. One intriguing treatment option that’s been sent to me is Rick Simpson’s cannabis. And I have friends/family who could set me up with this. I’m considering it. Ridiculous that this helpful plant is somehow actually illegal in Canada (until it becomes legal next year). Another friend spent hours and hours researching everything she could online and through books that she bought. Then she bought me supplements that could help: Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Ginger, Bee Propolis, Curcumin, Chlorella, Resveratrol. I checked with the pharmacist who spoke with me after my treatment and was told that the first three are fine. The Bee Propolis they want to research more first. The other three ‘could’ act as a further hindrance to the platelet counts or the neutraphils. And after researching them again I’ve decided not to take the Chlorella nor the Resveratrol.

And of course I’m still drinking the sour sop juice.

If there’s a 1% chance of something helping 1% – then I’ll take that edge.

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