Saturday 23 May 2009

My Chemotherapy record booklet




Today I found my little red chemo book!
This book was given to me before I started my first session of chemotherapy.
The booklet tells me about:

Infections and how to avoid them, including foods to avoid like raw or undercooked eggs, takeaways,
unpasteurised milk and cheese, live yoghurt and pate.
Things you need to tell your doctor.
Sex, pregnancy and family planning.
Medicines I took at home.

There’s also pages for me to make note of any side effects during the various stages of chemotherapy

I used to fill it in just before my next session was due. After my first chemo I had the nausea and sickness… patchy hairloss… mild constipation.. Mild pain…Transient drowsiness and a severe pain in my right arm and shoulder.

This pain was due to the needle been in that arm and after been prescribed with diclofenic tablets, it eased off by chemo 3

I was given 340mg of Paclitaxel and 700mg of Carboplaten as well as the pre meds of Dexamethasone 20mg, Ordansetron 8mg, Cimetidine 300mg and Chlorphenamine 10mg during all my sessions.

By chemo 2 everything was the same as my first session except the pins and needles had started.

By chemo 3 I had complete hairloss, I needed more rest and I’d started been sick quite a bit too as well as having diarrhoea and tingling and numbness.

Chemo 4 saw me having rest for more than half a day but the diarrhoea had stopped
For some reason I hadn’t filled in my booklet for chemo 5 and 6 !!

I'm so glad my chemo is over, i can honestly say it was the worse time of my life!!
My thoughts, love and prayers are with all of you going through this awful disease.

4 comments:

  1. It's good to record this stuff so you can reread it later ... what a journey it is.

    Cancer people are a brave bunch.

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  2. Hi Tracey
    Thanks so much for the ginger suggestion, I really appreciate it. The nausea is just so overwhelming I had no idea it woud be this bad. But I will get through this just as my other sisters fighting cancer have done so too.
    I have been keeping a written journal since chemo how I feel etc.

    Again many thanks.. glad you are over chemo!!
    Alli XOXO

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  3. A good book to read is Cancer Outside the Box, by Ty Bollinger...real eye opening and a help to those suffering with cancer.

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  4. WOW! What a journey this disease takes us on. It is interesting to look back at what we were thinking and feeling - sometimes I look back and laugh, and other times I am overwhelmed with grief and sadness. Such a horrible disease!

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