Start of second line
The consultation with GH's onclogist, 2 weeks after the insertion of chemo port, was a breeze: it took about 5 minutes. What took longer, apart from the waiting time of course, was the date of the first cycle chemotherapy. There was some confusion on their part. When it was finally sorted out, we were told that for the first cycle, my dad had to go to a ward because the staff there would teach us about the process. Subsequent cycles would be done at the usual daycare oncology section. The date was 1.5 weeks later.
On the day itself, we were told that the chemo drugs would be ready only at around 3-4pm, which means that dad had to be in the ward until about 6pm. I wished someone told us this earlier. Haiz. In addition, it was only on that day itself they asked us whether we brought a sling bag to place the chemo bag in it. How would we know this if no one told us? It was our first time going through this regimen.
However, I appreciated a nurse's initiative to quickly check availability of a bed nearer to the toilet, after my dad was already assigned another bed. She probably assumed, and rightly so, that my dad would prefer that bed since he was using a walker. That was so considerate of her.
I went back to my sister's place to have lunch, nap and work for a bit before going off for dinner with Ban. Then we went to get my dad at the hospital. All in all, including travel time, it took 13 hours @@. The infusion of 3 drugs plus pre and post hydration took about 5.5 hours.
Then the last thing was to attach a bag of chemo drug to the chemo port. It was a 48 hour infusion and then we were supposed to have it detached at the hospital. The best way was to just have it detached when the infusion was completed, determined by visual inspection of the bag i.e. it shrunk. Hence the periodic measuring of its circumference.
The next two days, my dad felt weak, sweated frequently and felt like vomiting, which are common side effects. At times, he vomitted "air/gas". Fortunately, his appetite wasn't too bad.
There was no problem in detaching the chemo bag at the hospital. Unfortunately, we were told that the daycare oncology was full for 2 consecutive weeks and so my dad's Cycle 2's date is nearly 4 weeks after the first :(
On the day itself, we were told that the chemo drugs would be ready only at around 3-4pm, which means that dad had to be in the ward until about 6pm. I wished someone told us this earlier. Haiz. In addition, it was only on that day itself they asked us whether we brought a sling bag to place the chemo bag in it. How would we know this if no one told us? It was our first time going through this regimen.
However, I appreciated a nurse's initiative to quickly check availability of a bed nearer to the toilet, after my dad was already assigned another bed. She probably assumed, and rightly so, that my dad would prefer that bed since he was using a walker. That was so considerate of her.
I went back to my sister's place to have lunch, nap and work for a bit before going off for dinner with Ban. Then we went to get my dad at the hospital. All in all, including travel time, it took 13 hours @@. The infusion of 3 drugs plus pre and post hydration took about 5.5 hours.
Then the last thing was to attach a bag of chemo drug to the chemo port. It was a 48 hour infusion and then we were supposed to have it detached at the hospital. The best way was to just have it detached when the infusion was completed, determined by visual inspection of the bag i.e. it shrunk. Hence the periodic measuring of its circumference.
The next two days, my dad felt weak, sweated frequently and felt like vomiting, which are common side effects. At times, he vomitted "air/gas". Fortunately, his appetite wasn't too bad.
There was no problem in detaching the chemo bag at the hospital. Unfortunately, we were told that the daycare oncology was full for 2 consecutive weeks and so my dad's Cycle 2's date is nearly 4 weeks after the first :(
Comments
Thanks. There was drama but fortunately managed to turn it around with some help. Will blog about it soon.