4th Week Radiation Treatment

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 infection too, but that has yet to be determined while waiting for results to come back soon.  So these are the wacky things I go through after chemo... and I will have to make note for when I finish the last 4 sessions after all the radiation treatments are done.  All in all... I remain hard to get the IV in and the blood out of my small and deep veins.  I am being a good pin cushion of practice for many areas in the hospital.  I am glad to provide the service.  :)  

My MRI was scheduled today for 4:40pm, so this scan will update the picture after my hysterecomy.  This will be helpful to see the part of the cervix left behind after the surgery.  Off I went across the Sudbury hospital to the North Tower, main floor.  It was easy enough to find although it is a large enough hospital to get lost in.  MRI room 2 was shown on the news this week to be getting a new MRI at the Sudbury hospital.  The one nurse that helped with the scan was shown on the news program.  We laughed that she was now a celebrity!    Once I was sitting in the IV chair, it was the same old story of my small and deep veins, and it took three nurses to get the best hole to inject the IV for contast and an injection.  The machine was noisy, but it was restful at the same time.  Humming out tunes that turn into pictures of my pelvic area.  The hour went fast.

When I got back to our room, and we went down to the community kitchen to figure out supper.  To our surprise, there was some left over dinners for Daffodil Lodge residents to enjoy from a hospital conference held today.  Supper was ready made, a chili base with mashed potato topping with a bun, and a nice side salad.  I thought that was great since it had been a long couple days.  By far, week 4 has been the hardest for me, but I'm still doing ok.  Some of this might be the dreary snow that was all over the parking lot this morning.  I haven't left the hospital since Monday morning, so it looks like a foreign land out the window.

The next couple days should go easier, just radiation treatments are scheduled, and one meeting with the chemo nurse to go over the next treatments that I will have after I get back from London's radiation treatments first week of December.  Lucky for me, I can take these more locally at Temiskaming Shores Hospital. 

On a brighter note, I was able to have a messenger video chat with my family the other day, so we had a nice little visit that cheered me up.  Here I was having some fun making faces at them.  I can recommend Facebook Messenger video chat... it has come a long way to entertain and keep loved ones connected during these times of Covid19 pandemic and for a cancer patient over here at HSN/Sudbury.

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