Auntie Susu's Cancer Journey

This week marks my 4th week radiation and my 2nd time chemo treatments.  Chemo is a potent drug.  It didn't bother me the first time much, except for one time vomiting the next day.  This time around I had a 38.8c fever which is in the danger range where I should go to Emergency.  With having radiation in the morning, I waited to report my symptoms to the booking clerk.  I had been drinking for my radiation treatment, but I wanted to check that it was safe to continue with the fever.  I was sent to the radiation oncologist nurse to be examined, so she checked my vitals like blood pressure 133/73, pulse 87, and temperature 38.1c.  The fever was coming down which was a good sign that I probably didn't have a serious infection.  However, it was found that I have thrush in the mouth, which is a yeast infection.  I am to continue with the homemade rinse of baking soda and salt, and take an antibotic to fight off any infection that may be present.  I am fairly sure I have a urine inf...

Yahoo, it's Friday... and so ends my 3rd week of radiation treatment.  It felt a little longer this week, probably because I had some early day appointments mixed with some later day appointments.  It is nice to get up and get it over with early enough to come back to the room to have a nap in the warm sunshine of the afternoon.  Our room has large windows overlooking one of the parking lots of the hospital, so not quite the scenic view.  At night, we see the lights from ambulances coming into emergency, and we hear the air ambulance come in landing on the air pad above our section of the hospital.  This reminded me that my Dad arrived by air ambulance when he was admitted, and consequently had to get his bypass heart operation.  From his room, we could see the air landing pad and Daffodil Lodge.   So after my nap, it becomes time to figure out what to make for supper in the community kitchen.  I have tried to come up with some creative meals with using...

Happy Birthday to my baby brother, Robert.  Haha!  He might point out that he is my only brother.  Although he is not a baby any longer, he is still 5 years younger than me.  In some ways, I have always been chasing him because he has his business degree, and I am still working on mine.  That's ok, it's all part of the journey.     Computers have always been one of our shared interests.  Robert was first to learn to use a Commodore 64 when he was in grade 7.  There was a Commodore 64 at the Canadian Tire store, so as soon as we got there I would grab his hand and over we went.  I made him show me how to use it.  That was the day when you had to program it first with commands so that it would just run a sentence on screen.  Soon the screen was running **Susan was here** and all was well in the world as walked away satisfied with myself.   Now our world is full of devices, and advances of technology.  It's so easy to transfer money wh...

Here I am going into the second week of radiation treatments. Some how I have found new confidence that is easy to keep an empty bowel and full bladder for the 10 minutes of radiation treatment.  For me, my business sense helps in calculating the science:  take my appointment time, back track 1 hour to fill the bladder, and drink hard for the 15 minutes prior to this 1 hour time.  By drinking hard, I mean at least 4 to 5 bottles of water, and maybe some juice to top it off.  BabaBoom... wait the 1 hour for the bladder to fill and by appointment time, I'm hard as a rock and ready to go.  Now do this 5 days in a row!!  ;) I have come to know the radiation therapists and techicians on a first name basis.  They even tried to trick me with two of the therapist who have same hair style and colour, and same style of glasses, but one is Janet and one is Lynn.  Trick me once, and probably trick me a few more times.  Janet is the therapist that loves c...

Monday, November 2nd was my first chemo and radiation treatment at HSN (Health Science North), or as I refer to the hospital as Sudbury.  Because I thought staying at their Daffodil Lodge would best for me, I booked a room for the 5 week chemo/radiation treatments.  Lots to do to prepare:  what food to bring, what clothes to wear, and what entertainment to bring.  Once the truck was loaded up and ready, we were off on this new adventure.    Arriving ahead of time so that I could do my bloodwork to check my levels for receiving the chemo treatment.  I had a hemoglobin 139, which was a great improvement over the hemoglobin 68 when I was here on August 7th.  Everything looked good to start my 1st chemo treatment.  I was positioned in the chair and got the IV going.  I am blessed with small and deep veins, so it took a couple times to find the vein.   My treatment specific to me is one hour saline solution, 1 hour chemo, and finishing with 1 more hour of saline solution.  It is cold on the...