my appointment was 1pm. i waited 2 hours, and i went in at 3pm. the nurse gave me a briefing on what is going to happened. basically chemotherapy is about infusing chemicals into the blood so that the chemical will go into all parts of the body to kill all the fast-multiplying cells.
in the human body, the white blood cells, haemoglobin, hair cells, nails cells oso belongs to fast multiplying cells which resulting in some side effects after chemo.
chemo treatment is different from other treatment. when u r sick and u undergo treatment, u will feel better over time. chemo will make u feel sick over time. instead of getting better, u get worse.
my first 6 sessions of chemo requires 3 big packet of chemicals each, namely Gemcitabine (1hr), Paclitaxel (1hr) and Carboplatin (1/2hr). My possible side effects hahaha... really, i almost fainted when i see the list. i feel like asking the nurse,"r u trying to heal me or kill me?" hahaha....
anyway, just for a laugh, this is the list:
Early Side Effects
- nausea and vomiting
- itching or pain at injection site
- appetite loss
- fever and chills
- diarrhoea
- constipation
- joint and muscle pain or weakness
- drop in blood cell count
- hair loss
- shortness of breath or cough
- swelling of fingers, feet or lower legs
- numbness, tingling or burning on fingers and toes
- Fever of 38 degree or higher
- sore throat, cough, hoarseness or mouth sores
- pain or difficulty in urination
- skin rash, itching or unusual redness
- unusual bleeding or bruising or black stools
- shortness of breath
- tingling in hands, feet or ringing in the ears
- fatigue, lightheadedness, chest pain, palpitation
before the chemo starts, the nurse injected some anti-nausea medicine into my blood. then i started to feel like a elephant being put to sleep. why i said so, becos no matter how hard i struggled, i was knocked out in less than a minute.
i was awakened by the machine beep, indicated that the Gemcitabine was completely infused. after that i felt super lousy. to think that i'm fit and strong and tough, but just see how the chemical took me down so easily. i couldn't last even a minute. the next hour was torturing, tired but couldn't sleep anymore. morale dropped below sea-level.
the last 1/2 hour was horrible. when Carboplatin was infused into the blood, can really feel the pain inside the blood vessel. to think that my threshold of pain is high, i still can't help looking at my arm. the pain is like... like ur whole vein is swelling, going to burst.
i left NCC at 1830. after dinner at abt 2030, the side effects started to came in. from that moment onwards, "life" has become so "unpredictable". hahaha...
first is diarrhea, then non-stop sneezing. the worst is nausea feeling which came in 4 hours later. from then onwards, the nausea feeling has never left me. every moment i feel like vomiting, even when i was sleeping.
the next day i experienced severe pain in my jaws and very bad migraine. so bad that i had problem eating my lunch. i had some burning sensation on my body, as if i was being scalded by boiling water. it was so painful that i kept removing my shirt to check my body. night time, i got a swollen right foot due to water retention. think my kidney was weaken.
the third day, things seems to go back to normal except the nausea feeling. evening i went for a 7km run. the last 500m dash ended me up with irregular heartbeat. first time in my life i experience such weird heartbeat. i can hv 2 diastole and 3 systole, 1 diastole followed by 2 systole then 1 diastole, 3 systole, something like that. i was being terrified. remember? i dun wan to die. so i held my heart and kept taking deep breathe, walking around to normalise my heartbeat.
the fourth day morning i almost can't wake up. my heart is pumping so weakly that my body is weak. the chest was tight, but not to the extend of need to see a doctor. just that the whole day i can't do anything other than lying on bed.
the sixth day i went for run again. this time still a normal 7km, but without the final 500m dash. the seventh day i experienced similar heart condition. but slightly better than the first time. at least morning i could still work, i couldn't walk fast, i became short of breathe whenever i talked.
despite the nausea feeling, i tried to eat as much as i can. i vowed to try my best not to look ill so that my family will not worry that much abt me.
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