KID GLOVES

Well that’s the end of of the (pretend) week of normality. We’ve haven’t managed to get a cancellation appointment for the CT scan so looks like the Saturday scan still goes ahead (unless they decide against it in the morning). Tomorrow is when the journey really gets underway though with the start of 18.5 weeks of chemotherapy treatment.

Usually, when we’re getting ready to go to the hospital for a long day it usually ends up with us returning home with another little version of ourselves. No such luck this time. The only thing we’re going to come home with tomorrow is a drugged up mummy and a handful of unknown side effects. It’s horrible not knowing how Sam is going to react to everything. Is she going to be sick, will she be zoned out and away with the fairies, or will she be like nothing has happened? We’ve got to be at the hospital by 0850 so that she can get ready for her pre chemo appointment. I assume this is when they’ll take bloods, etc, to make sure her white blood cell count is high enough to start the chemo treatment. We’ll have one of these pre chemotherapy appointments before each treatment day to make sure she’s fit enough to endure the chemo session. If she isn’t, then they will postpone the treatment until she’s strong enough to fight off any infection that’ll come her way. After tomorrow we’ll have to treat her with kid gloves and make sure she doesn’t come into contact with anyone that may have any kind of cough, sniffles or sneezes because her immune system will be really low. I’ve heard that some cancer patients are given the flu jab before their treatment begins so it will bolster whatever immune system they’re left with, but I’m not sure if they’ve got one of these planned for Sam. We’re going to be in the hospital for at least 5 hours tomorrow so I will “live” blog things as they happen so that I can keep you all updated (that’s the plan anyway).

Sam has been relatively calm today considering she’s been a nervous wreck all week. She’s suffered from stomach cramps, diarrhoea, adult acne and has got her period 2 weeks early (and this before she’s been pumped full of any drugs) so you can tell her stress levels are at an all time high. I think she’s slightly confused though because today she’s been “nesting”. Now, I’ve only ever seen her do this in the days before she’s due to give birth but today she’s cleaned the house, cleaned the windows, gone shopping and cooked a roast for dinner. She’s just washed her hair and now she’s downstairs in the front room straightening it ready for tomorrow. I asked her why she’s going into all that effort by doing her hair. She said it needed washing and there was no way she wasn’t going to straighten it. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love it when she takes pride in her hair and she looks beautiful for it. It’s just that I can’t help feeling that it’s a bit like decorating an extension knowing that you’re going to have to knock it down the next week. 😉