C is for Chemo

The wait is over. I have my first chemo date: Thursday 10th November. We had an introductory interview with one of the chemo nurses yesterday afternoon when she gave us all the details of what is going to happen, step by step and possible side-effects etc. The type of chemo I need means that I need to stay in overnight; I have two different types of 'poison' - one which is only for 10 minutes and the other for four hours. After that I need 20 hours of rinsing! I'm not really afraid of the chemo, I don't think the process itself is painful, maybe uncomfortable if you have to stay in one position all the time or just a bit boring being stuck in the hospital all the time. I think the side effects could be difficult, one of which is nausea... which I am really fed up with already.

The type of chemo I am going to have does have the side-effect of hair loss - in one way, I don't really care, I mean that won't hurt will it? I'm not sure about wigs yet...do I go scarf/bandana route or just go bald and then wear a hat to go out in? I would like to think I could carry off a bald look like some of those beautiful women you see with shaved heads.. but I imagine that I will have some lumpy misshapen head which will look more alien than attractive. I think I need to be prepared to cover up. I am just curious about how it will happen and to what extent...will it all just drop out the day I have the chemo.. or will it be clumpy hair loss over the days afterwards? It also just occurred to me that my eyebrows might disappear as well... will I have to resort to drawing them on?! Never done that before.. could be potential disaster, need to ask my niece for advice there, she's quite the expert at make-up and drawing eyebrows on other people, although so far I have only been treated to the 'Halloween' look. Need to see what other looks she has in her repertoire!

Before the joy of chemo, I have to have another biopsy; this time a lung biopsy, they want to take tissue from the tumour in my lung pre-chemo so they can do tests on the tissue for potential follow up treatments after the chemo has finished. I can see why and think it is a good idea but I'm not exactly looking forward to the procedure. I won't be under general anaesthetic, just local which worries me... quite often talking about the medical issues makes me feel more queasy than actually having something done, so if I can hear what they are doing, it might be quite stressful. I guess they will give me something to calm me down, i might ask if I can have my music on while they do their thing.