Just because there have been no blog entries for a whole week, that doesn't mean we haven't been doing anything. Far from it.
We spent Thursday night and most of Friday just recovering from the relief of no surgery. We were both surprisingly, absolutely exhausted. Or perhaps not surprising really. On Friday we were back at the hospital for a meeting with Dr. Steven Kao to learn about the chemotherapy. He wanted it to start today, and it turned out that this entire week was fully booked for chemotherapy. But the hospital staff - as accommodating as ever - managed to tweak and fiddle as only they can and time was found for Alex to start his chemo.
The long weekend loomed and we spent it at home. We had lots of visits from friends and that was wonderful - it's always great to have friends around and the kettle worked overtime. Saturday especially was a wonderful day, starting with Tanya & Lindsay bringing croissants for breakfast (they didn't last long!), then Simon & Kitty called in, then Mr. and Mrs. Hage and then Jenny & Steve came for dinner.
On Monday we collected Kiwi Pete from the airport. He stayed for 2 nights, enroute from Perth to Japan and so on Tuesday we had an extra helper with the work jobs.
We both enjoyed having Pete stay.
This week we thought we may end up with ONE MEDICAL FREE DAY but it wasn't to be. On Tuesday we went back to the hospital for a Chemotherapy Education session that was well worth it. There's a lot to take in. A small part of the talk was the necessity to keep up some regular exercise. Of course, to some of us the idea of actually starting some regular exercise would be closer to the mark. It does sound strange that regular exercise does help fatigue, but it is true. It's just putting the theory into practice that is sometimes the difficult bit.
We were walking from the hospital to meet Pete at Enmore when we passed a house that reminded us of this point. Full marks for making the most of their verandah with the comfy chairs and table outside. Of course, one look at the empty beer bottles and overflowing ashtray on the table was a clue that regular exercise probably wasn't their main priorty in life. Even though they did have the pushbike there as well.
Closer inspection of the bike revealed that it may have spent most of its at least recent life just looking out at the street and dreaming of being out and about ...
We've been driving to and from hospital on a daily basis, and occasionally we've driven through Newtown rather than going the "back roads". The first time I saw this shop window, I thought that the window dresser was having a lunch break, or a coffee break. But by the end of the week, I realised that he or she wasn't having a break and indeed the window display was finished. We were stopped at the lights long enough to take a quick snap.
Yes, I know this isn't a blog about street photography. There has been a shortage this week of "one day" coffee shops as we've been busy catching up with work & deliveries and we've still had medical appointments every day.
Our big news is the start of Chemotherapy. Alex has been booked in for 6 chemo treatments. These are going to be on Fridays on a 21 day cycle, ie, every third Friday. So he's booked in for treatment for the next 18 weeks, until January.
Of course we're very excited about this, given the news we'd been given previously.
The other good news is that the RPA Oncologist has worked miracles. He has convinced the drug company to give Alex the new treatment. These are drugs that have been tested but are not Government funded in Australia. In the testing phase, they have provided patients with a better quality of life and a longer life expectancy.
Our appointment was at 9:30 this morning, and so we went to the office briefly and then to hospital. We checked in at the main Reception area in Gloucester House and then at the Chemo reception. The nurses were getting the area ready for the day's patients and since this was our first chemo session, they made us comfortable in the education room and ran a short informative video presentation for us. Then one of the nurses came in to answer any questions we had, and generally to go through the process with us.
Alex had called in yesterday to provide blood samples. Before each chemo treatment, they check each patients blood to make sure they're healthy enough for the treatment. Then each patient's medications are made up and sent through. The staff in the pharmacy must work flat out every day.
The nurses asked Alex to choose a seat and make himself comfortable. The room has about 20 stations - recliner chairs, with table; a chair for a partner/carer/friend and stands with the medical equipment required. There are also about 3 beds, for patients who are unable or not well enough to sit.
It's a busy environment, and while the nurses are busy making sure they have all of Alex's chemo treatments, and everything else they need, Alex reverts to playing solitaire on his phone. The nurse then takes his pulse, BP, temperature and then wheels her trolley over to get ready to put his canula in.
Uh oh.
What happened at this point is that in order to take his mind off what was happening, Alex was thinking about the conversation we had with Kiwi Pete earlier this week. We'd been discussing the options of what bike Alex would ride when we went touring next. Alex will sell his GSA and the options were to buy one like mine or get a bike and sidecar. A Vespa was also mentioned for when we're next in Europe.
Kiwi Pete thought it would be worth thinking about buying one of those 3 wheeler bikes. Like a CanAm. We think that the Kiwis obviously have their own names for them. Alex and I also have our own names for them .....
You can see from Alex's expression that a 3 wheeler bike - of ANY description - just doesn't bear thinking about!
I know that Alex is good at pretending he can't hear me when I ask him certain questions, but really this is honestly the nurse taking his temperature. She also checked his pulse and BP, which was excellent!
So with his drugs hooked up, and the machine set, it was time to "put the tiger in the tank" as Alex called it.
Jeffrey, one of the volunteers, came around regularly asking if we'd like a tea, coffee or glass of water.
The only items needed to complete the ideal chemo treatment were a laptop, hard drive of movies, ear plugs and voila!
May we present, (drumroll, drumroll) ...
"Chemotherapy with Pemetrexed (Almita) and Carboplatin with a swig of Zameta (helps heal the bones) to finish it off while you are seated in comfort watching James Bond's Casino Royale."
No comments:
Post a Comment