Round 3 Session 2

On Monday morning I made my way to TOH to do my standard pre-session blood tests and to meet with my Medical Oncologist to report on the reactions/side effects over the last two weeks.  The first part was relatively simple as I renewed my friendship with the ladies on the Cancer Centre “Blood Letting Unit”.  Nothing much new there with the exception that one of the staff members was dropped by her husband of 40 years and she has never been happier.  Things get pretty personal pretty quickly in that unit.  My regime of blood tests has been adjusted for this session.  It requires some complicated instructions about a urine test.  Firstly, I have never studied for a urine test and secondly, I always thought I knew what I was supposed to do.  Not so ......

After the visit to the blood unit I killed a bit of time before meeting with the Dr. Robillard who was interested in my details of my reactions and was somewhat disappointed that I had experience the side effects that I did.  In discussion she learned of my aversion to drugs and she gave me good advice: “Take the drugs! .... and drink more water” and my life may be better.  I considered myself told.  My test results were sufficiently good to allow me to go forward with Session 2.  We also discussed my vacation plans to ensure that this does not get in the way of my life and established plans.  She noted our plans and agreed that we will be OK to travel and put Chemo on hold for a short period.  I thanked her for her good advice and understanding and I went about my day.

Today I went to the Chemo Unit as scheduled and had a slightly anxious feeling.  I have no idea why I was anxious and I had assumed because I did not sleep well last night.  This was reflected in my Blood Pressure being elevated above the level acceptable for one of the cocktail components.  This resulted in a delay to the start as I tried to relax and get my BP in the acceptable zone.  That did not happen so a Dr. Consultation was necessary and the Dr. decided to proceed but to also prescribe some BP meds for me.  Now this is not new to me.  I have always had “white coat syndrome” when in hospital but this time it did not abate with time.  I now have a follow-up in two weeks to see how that is going.

The actual Chemo was uneventful and of course the nursing staff members are nothing but helpful in making me feel comfortable while getting me out of there to fulfill their commitments to other patients. The upshot is that I am a bit tired and just about to re-evaluate the drugs I have been given and start a regime to ward off some of those nasty side effects.  It is my hope that the plan will lessen some of the inconveniences I experienced in Session 1.

I hope the week ahead is a good one for all of you.