Bernadette

Yesterday I was told I had to have a blood transfusion - I am getting on top of all of this medical stuff however I hit my limits at the idea of blood transfusions. I still clearly remember being 16 and visiting the Blood Bank for a school excursion. The lady showed us a bag of blood product and I promptly saw stars. I have never been able to look at a bag of blood since. So for 4 hours yesterday I had bags of blood attached to me - the process was not too uncomfortable physically however mentally it took its toll - I think I am going to look into phobia desensitisation!! Anyway the effects should be felt today and I should feel like a new woman apparently (or man maybe if it is male blood!!!). So life should be on the improve and I will start to feel a little better before they hit me with the chemo next Friday

I have had a few days to settle now and I am feeling quite exhausted - the chemo has taken a lot out of me (doesn’t help being pregnant I suppose!!). I am resting up heaps and even agreed to using a wheelchair when I do have my little trips out. I am going on nutritional supplements which should start to make a difference (there is no way I can possibly eat the required calories for the combination of pregnancy and chemo). Everyone will laugh at this one - I have been advised (by both doctor and dietician) to throw all standard ideas of healthy eating out the window - the idea now is to eat as much as you can eating what you want when you want it with as much fat and calories as possible (eg drink cordial not water), eat dessert with every meal and fry foods wherever possible!!! It looks like I will get round 2 of chemo next Friday to try to get this under control and I will probably stay in hospital until then.  

 I had my first round of chemotherapy yesterday and all went well. It was a long process (7 hours) but all in all it was not too painful and I did not get too sick (assisted by anti nausea drugs). I am tired today but that is to be expected. They are going to do some tests tomorrow to see if the drugs they started me on when I came in and the chemo drugs have had an effect on the cancer yet - they are pretty positive that they will have. So that is one lot of chemo down and only 15 to go