Chemotherapy Diary #2: Cycle Two

It's strange how something as outwardly scary as chemotherapy can become so routine. That's just how it felt this morning as we took our little patient over to the Sarawak General Hospital Oncology Unit for her next cycle.

The place was just the same - the familiar brightly lit waiting room and the nice soothing water feature next to the pharmacy counter. The same paintings on the walls in the corridor outside. And the same wait for me while Annie, accompanied by her sister, went off for her routine blood test.

While I waited for them to come back, I struggled to concentrate on an excellent Stephen King short story collection I had been reading, which I suppose in a dark way was appropriate reading for this place. I couldn't help noticing that this time there seemed to be so many more people waiting for treatment. Most of them were fairly old - there was one papery old guy in a wheelchair, his bone-thin arms and legs framing a sunken, shrivelled face with the pallor of a Holocaust survivor. I remember wishing that the remaining days left for him will be happy ones.

Had that many more people got cancer since our last visit three weeks ago? Or were they the same people? When Annie came back from her blood test half an hour later, she recognised a plump Malay lady who was also undergoing chemo, and they chatted for a while. After not very long, Annie was called into the chemo day care room, to receive her latest drugs. Just to remind you, gentle readers, here are some photos. Annie is the one wearing pink:



This time, her session was a little longer, just over two hours. The drugs were the same - the cherryade and the lemonade! Afterwards, she felt ravenously hungry, and we took her to Chillipeppers for lunch!!

Many of you reading this will obviously want to know more about the effects of chemotherapy and, after seeing it first hand for three weeks, I can fill you in. Annie has gone through all kinds of weird symptoms since her first cycle last month. Here are the most notable:

• vomiting. Especially the first couple of days. Drinking fizzy drinks such as Coke or 100-Plus (isotonic) definitely helped. Plus she had drugs to control the vomiting!
• Burning sensation in the nerves and veins of the arms and hands. In the first week mainly, and this was again controlled by taking steroids
• Headaches and fever
• Painful ulcers inside the mouth, and irritating acne around the mouth and face
• Lack of energy
• Loss of appetite and taste (though we made sure she ate!)
• Slight bloating of the face and stomach
• Mood swings (well, wouldn't you?!?)
  
• Black stools
• Red urine and, of course:
• Severe hair loss. Annie has now lost over 80 percent of the hair on her head. But this will grow back once the chemotherapy treatment stops. Just look at a recent photo of Kylie Minogue if you don't believe me!! Mind you, I hope Annie doesn't become blonde like Kylie!!
  

So chemotherapy is not much fun, and different people experience it differently. They say the cure is worse than the disease, but then again, the cure doesn't kill you.

Annie is in fairly good spirits, considering. We know she will be OK, but that's hard to internalise for her sometimes, I am sure. All we can give her at the moment is love and support. And lots of Coke and Cherryade!!