Sabine in Gozo

Chemo fun – third day

Time flies, once again (even though it clearly can’t be due to all the fun I’m having!); I can’t believe that almost three weeks have passed since my last post! The chemo that had been scheduled for last Tuesday had to be postponed because of a very low white blood cell count (2,600); however, another test on Thursday showed almost 3 times that amount (7,100), clearing the way for me to have the treatment yesterday instead.

It was my first ferry crossing to Malta since the start of all this that I did not spent lying down in the car, and the first time, too, that I took my camera with me. Which was just as well, as the sun rose into a sky that was just to my liking!!

Winter sky with rising sun over Comino Tower

Early morning at Mgarr Harbour

Unfortunately it was really, really cold (6°C), and I had to give up after a couple of shots. Sadly, I did not  manage to get the photos for which I’d taken the camera with me in the first place; the views from the gardens of Sir Paul Boffa Hospital, located somewhere above Valletta Waterfront, are wonderful! But by the time we reached the hospital, it was important to get to the day clinic as quickly as possible because it’s “first come, first served” – yet another disadvantage exclusively reserved for Gozitan patients. Maybe we should start taking an earlier ferry but even getting up and ready to catch the 7.30am one is already quite an ordeal…

I ended up waiting for over 2 hours for my turn, but obviously I didn’t know that and thus could not take advantage of all that wasted time. But much worse was the fact that because of all the sitting around there came a point when I couldn’t help crying with excruciating back pain… They gave me a bed then, which was a relief but I think it also caused them to “forget” about me, because the whole waiting room had emptied before I even saw a doctor, – even those people who definitely had arrived after us had disappeared. Oh well… that was just my typical luck!

By the time I was done and free to go, I was hardly able to walk to the car – leave alone take a photo-stroll through the hospital garden. I do hope I’ll be well enough on one of my future appointments, to get a go at that view!!

I must say I was rather afraid from the side effects of cisplatin, which are said to be much worse than those of carboplatin. But it turned out the doctor who had told me that my chemo was to be changed to cisplatin, had mixed up some information (no, I don’t quite understand that, either!). As a matter of fact, what I did get yesterday was a combination of vinorelbin and carboplatin. So far, I’m just tired but haven’t had any problems. New pain meds (Morphgesic SR) are finally effective, and nausea hasn’t been a problem – it might (or might not!) once I’m running out of the tablets they gave me to cover the first 3 days. We’ll see. At least this time I have no gruelling medical examinations scheduled (I’m still reeling from the memory of that bronchoscopy…)!

All the way home I was lying down in the passenger seat, dozing on and off. Even those stupid car alarms on the ferry (who would steal a car on the ferry to Gozo anyway?!) didn’t make the trip seem longer than it is, and I dozed for most of that journey, too – as did George and Antoinette, my two angels, because I certainly wasn’t the only one who’d had a long day!

Another post is coming up soon… and it’ll be a little different to this boring account of my treatment day!

Tags: cancer