ABVD - 1a (1/8)

Continued from the last post, after I, aching a bit, went to sit down to have some lunch I was called in again for my first round of chemo.

I can't deny I was feeling very nervous. I didn't know what to expect, apart from that my body - maybe - wouldn't really be the same for a while.

Anyway, I was led to a chair with a drip next to it, and the customary cannula was - after an initial miss in the vein by my wrist - inserted into my lower forearm -->

Whilst you're in the chair, having the drugs, you're free to do whatever you want, really. Read, watch stuff on your tablet, do whatever you want. You'll just have to wheel your drip around with you!

After being "flushed" with saline solution, and taken some anti-emetic (anti sickness) pills, it was time to get going with the ABVD. ABVD is named as such because it's 4 different drugs which I'll get every time, the combination of which is designed to, basically, smash the cancer out of me :)

First out was D (dacarbazine), which was a gloopy red fluid reminiscent of ribena that was slowly injected into my arm. Doesn't that look nice (left)? It lasted about 30-35 minutes and took some time to get through me, but I had a nice chat with my cancer nurse and she was lovely. It was really slowly injected - if it was done faster, it began to be a bit uncomfortable within my veins. It also made my wee red, which was fun!

After that was done, V (vinblastine) came out (right) - a little bag dripped into me, which lasted about 10 minutes and was relatively painless. After that, I did feel a little bit light headed after that but felt like I'd keep going!

Third was B (bleomycin), which was a less viscous than the D (left), was injected into me over the course of 10 minutes. Fairly simple.

After that, was the long one, which was A (adriamycin).  It took about 2 hours as it was a massive bag of drugs (right) and had to be dripped into me very, very slowly because it hurt if they sped up the administration within the vein.

But there we go. Actually fairly painless.

After that, I left the hospital in a taxi. I'd entered at 9am left about 6pm.

Straight away, in the car, I felt incredibly nauseous (despite taking some domperidon anti-emetics... hereafter called dom perignon of course) and managed to hold it in, much to the cab driver's clear relief, until we got back to the kerb by my flat. Up the stairs and straight to bed, to roll around in nauseous splendour.

I spent last night feeling hyper nauseous and visiting the toilet a few times. Not lovely, but it kind of stopped after about 9pm when I passed out - if I could describe it, it felt just like gastroenteritis (winter flu) in my system.

Today, I feel okay. Took my dom perignon and feel okay, like a bit drowsy but apart from that, I'm surprisingly less out of it than I thought I would be. I really hope this is the extent of the after effects (apart from my hair falling out!).

Over the next few days, I hope the side effects will fade and not expand. My parents are staying with me just to keep an eye on me, but if this is all the effects of what's going to happen, I can live with this. I can really live with it.

The key point is: this is killing the cancer. And I will survive. It all means I'm getting fixed, and that's what I keep telling myself... even whilst cradling the toilet bowl :)