The Cancer Fight

Today (as I type this in fact) I am receiving my first dose of my 9 week treatment. With all of the pre-meds and test doses, I can’t say I feel too well. It was also my first use of the port. Honestly it is quite an ingenious thing really. As I was lying in my chair (see picture for what the chair looks like), with Nicole and my Dad to my right, Nicole – who is way more social than I think I’ll ever be – struck up a conversation with the young man sitting in the chair to my left. We got to talking quite a bit. His name is Jason. He is on his end of his 2nd cycle of chemo. I was talking about his life with cancer, and it truly made me feel a lot better, making many of my nerves go away. Jason started chemo at the same time his wife had their first child (about one month ago). He described his active lifestyle, which truly brought a lot of hope to me. He talked about snowmobiling and running.

“The more active you are, the less sick you’ll feel. If you sit around all the time, your illness will only compound” he said.  It was really nice talking to him; and the nice part is, since we are all on Monday-Friday regiments, I know I’ll probably see him next Monday.

The nurses are incredibly nice. One retrieved a warmed blanket for me. They really do a great job of making the process a little less uncomfortable.

Not to be mistaken with the hotel treatment, once the main medicine was injected, I sure felt a very disserting feeling throughout my body. The only way I could describe the feeling would be a cold, tingly, churning sensation. I could feel the pit of my stomach waging a battle with all of the different chemicals inside me. As Jason put it, the worst is going to be the 2nd week – a week I wouldn’t mind skipping.