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After five hours of waiting around and preparation, the therapy itself lasted all of five minutes, or the duration of I Don't Like Mondays by the Boomtown Rats. (That's what was on the radio at the time). A radioactive cobalt source was dropped down the tube and my tumour was irradiated from the inside.
This is not without risks. The doctor explained to me that there was a risk that the radiation could burn a hole in my oesophagus, necessitating hospital admission. Fortunately, that does not appear to have happened and I'm at home now.
I need a nap.
The second batch of chemotherapy was not as easy as the first batch. The drugs were identical but of course back then I had only just started radiotherapy. By the time the second batch started I'd had four weeks of treatment and my body reacted very differently. Despite the drugs I did feel nauseated and there were some side effects.
Anyway, what's next? I've been scheduled for a treatment called Brachytheraphy next Monday. This involves inserting a nasal-gastric tube and dropping a radioactive pellet down it to irradiate the tumour from the inside. The radiotherapy I had irradiated from the outside. After that I'll have a further CAT scan and maybe a PET scan which will allow the surgeon to see what progress I've made.
Apparently, I'm looking at a mid-May timeframe for surgery. I hope they schedule me for the second half of May as my niece, and god daughter, is making her first holy communion in Brussels in mid-May and I'd like to be there even if it does involve being out of the country. I definitely want my parents to go but they'd probably want to stay in Dublin if I'm in hospital.
Because of the lack of fluid intake I was on the verge of kideny failure and was hooked up to a drip for most of the time. Then just as it looked as if I'd get out last weekend, I developed a temperature and was put on antibiotics. They weren't going to let me out this weekend either but they compromised and said I could go out for a few hours between antibiotic doses i.e. I could go out after lunch but be back by teatime. Then, the results of my blood cultures came back and they reduced my dosage to once a day. I still have to be back this evening but there's no curfew as such.
I feel great and I have my strength back. The second batch of chemotherapy starts on Monday.
The bad news is there seems to be a problem with IOL. The POP server doesn't seem to be responding and I'm getting reports that messages being sent to me are bouncing.
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