Chemo Cycle

July 19

It's been awhile since my last entry, so I'll try to catch up with what's been happening.

As I said last time, the treatment plan was changed after it was found that the original treatments were not very effective. So the new plan involves monthly cycles of a different drug, called azicitidine. I get this every work day for seven consecutive days (i.e. Monday through Friday, plus the following Monday and Tuesday). The drug is injected subcutaneously in the stomach rather than intravenously. There are two needles per dose, since the total volume is too much for a single shot. (Some people need three, apparently.) So in effect I get 14 shots in the stomach every month.

Although the actual shots take just a few minutes, I need to spend a couple of hours every day in the cancer treatment centre. On the first day of the cycle, I need to have blood taken and analyzed. This takes an hour or so (the analysis, not the withdrawal), after which I get 'assessed' by an intake nurse. Assessment is just a weigh-in and measure of height (which apparently doesn't change much month to month - the height I mean, obviously weight is more variable) and a quick interview on how I'm feeling. After this point the drug gets ordered from the pharmacy, and that takes another hour or so. The good thing is the drug has a short shelf life (something under one hour) so by the time it comes they take me straight away. On subsequent days, though there is no blood requirement, there is a very quick assessment before the drug is ordered, followed by an hour to hour-and-a-half wait for the drug to be ready. So a big chunk of the day is taken up in order to get a few minutes of treatment.

Side effects of the drug are redness and soreness at the injection site (they change sides every day to spread this around), as well as flu-like muscle aches, head ache, fatigue, cramps and 'digestive' issues. The aches were worst for the first couple of days, but the fatigue and the digestive issues persist throughout the treatment cycle and beyond.

I have another CT scan scheduled for later this week to see if my chest infection from the early days in the hospital has gone away, and then I have a couple of weeks respite from treatment until the cycle starts up again in August.