#sharestrength – Chemotherapy #4

In the midst of my fifth chemotherapy now but let’s talk about my forth chemotherapy first. Honestly, I don’t remember much about the forth because I was too distracted with the attention from the release of the video by AXA and National Cancer Society Malaysia.

As usual, I went to the hospital on Tuesday for my blood test; that normally takes less than an hour so I dropped by during lunch break since my office is just 10 minutes away.

blood test umsc
Brave enough to take a photo this time because the nurse was good. Barely felt the needle going in.

Continue reading #sharestrength – Chemotherapy #4

#sharestrength – Chemotherapy #3

I was aiming to blog about each of my chemotherapy cycle at the end of my chemotherapy weekend but I missed the third cycle. I’ve already completed my forth cycle but here I am trying to recollect the experience of my third cycle because as a chemotherapy patient, I enjoyed reading the progress of each cycle of other patients; it gave me a glimpse of what to expect at different stage of the journey. It’s reassuring so let’s do this.

During my third cycle, I learned that I’m just quite hopeless when it comes to productivity during chemotherapy and that hair fall is something I need to deal with at least until my treatment ends (FYI, colon cancer chemotherapy does not cause hair loss).

Besides that, RK learned alongside me that life is as usual even with chemotherapy, just like what my doctor told me prior to treatment. We went to the mall after my hospital visit. We caught a movie 2 days after finishing my third cycle. And I went for a 3d2m shopping trip to Bangkok a week after! This explains why I have less time for my blog now. Continue reading #sharestrength – Chemotherapy #3

#sharestrength – Chemotherapy #2

My first chemotherapy felt like forever. My second chemotherapy felt like a blink of an eye. Seriously, I don’t know where time flew. I didn’t realize I have been away from work for almost a week until late this morning.

I have to say that the second cycle felt less intimidating because I already had a gauge of how my body would respond to the drugs. What I have forgotten however, was that I now have increased dosage of drug in my body. What this means is that side effects will be worse because of cumulative effect.
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#sharestrength – Chemo Port Surgery & Chemotherapy #1

So it happened. 7 weeks after my colectomy surgery to remove 26 cm of my colon, I went for another surgery to commence my chemotherapy. This, however, was a minor surgery. So minor I was fully awake throughout the whole 1-hour procedure.

Awake? Yes, I was awake.

For my colectomy surgery, I was unconscious at the waiting ward. I did not see the operating theater. I did not see my surgeon’s face before the surgery.

For this minor surgery to implant a chemo port in my chest, I climbed onto the surgical table myself and even chatted with the surgeon during the surgery. It was surreal. It was scary just because. Continue reading #sharestrength – Chemo Port Surgery & Chemotherapy #1