Cycle 2

Tuesday 28 February 2017

Here we go - Cycle 2! Excited to be one third of the way through now after this but it still feels like a massive mountain to climb.

I wake up feeling happy to wear my pretty Auguste dress gifted to me and get my chemo bag ready. Of course...mum and I are running late again and we arrive to chemo ten minutes late! O well, it seems to be a tradition we have started.

I sign in and I am placed on the smaller side of the day suite, I immediately get myself all set up with lots of distractions and activities to keep me preoccupied for the time (but knowing me I won't get through more than one!)

My nurses Torah and Anna get me all set up, we have a little bit of difficulty with accessing my port but this all gets sorted pretty quickly and I'm on my way!

Now this time I don't have to wait so long for my infusion of Rituximab as I didn't have a reaction last time, so we won't be travelling as far as WA. This time we only have about 2 - 2 1/2 hours so we decide to head to the city of Churches - Adelaide. It's a shame the fringe festival has just ended in Radelaide but hopefully we might make it to Kangaroo valley!

I get special visitor today too - I'm pretty spoilt during my chemo sessions it would seem. This time it's the lovely Anna from school. We had a good chat and her positivity, calmness and knowledge about life with cancer I found to be so helpful. It's great to see someone on the other side living life and so grateful to be healthy.

I get to briefly update my diary and read for a short period too but before I know it my infusion has finished and they are hooking me up to my lovely CADD pump to take home.

This Round is a little different to last, as I am unable to have a 48hr CADD pump (apparently there is some worldwide shortage of etoposide and this affects the phosphate - look I don't really have a clue with the medical lingo), but what this means for me is instead of coming in every second day to swap out my CADD I have to come in everyday for the next 5 days! Boo :( oh well like I said any excuse to have my ice chips but I'm sure by then I'll be quite over it!

Round 2 - please be kind to me!

Rach x

Loosing my hair...and my mind!

Wednesday 22 February 2017

Now everyone who knows me, knows I'm a little (or a lot) protective of my fine, wispy hair. After a bad fringe incident back in Year 9 and six months of painfully waiting for it to 'grow' out. I finally realised that my hair simply doesn't grow, so no rash hair cutting decisions for me! Well the big C sure changed that!





After getting my wig, I decided I would cut my hair shorter to deal with the constant shedding. I was loving my new hair and decided I was going to have control of this, having a hair journey where I would just slowly cut my hair shorter and shorter until maybe it was just so short I wouldn't notice it was gone? (hah wishful thinking!).

At first I did find it mildly amusing that some strands of hair would come out here when I ran my fingers through my hair. Let me tell you, this mild amusement didn't last long! My hair soon became a bird's nest, matted, dull and then began to actually fall out. It would come out in the shower and end up all over my clothes. I was upset of course but also angry that my awesome haircut had only had less one week of wear! $$$

 It sucked, after a very emotional day and the help of mum and my brother we cut off the majority of my hair to a little bird like cut. To be honest after seeing the state of my hair, cutting it off was actually easier to do than I thought, the hair (not my hair) had become so different I couldn't even compare it to my actual hair. 

CUE THE WIG!

Thank goodness my family friend/ hair angel Beck, came to the rescue by coming round to cut and style my wig. She did an awesome job and made it so much more like my own hair.

Over the next few weeks, my hair just thinned out more so until I was comfortable it just shaving it all off. Luke and Chris did the honours of this! and then I got to shave Luke's hair!

We're all in this together ~

Valentine's Day and...Wig Shopping

Tuesday 14 February 2017


Ohh Valentine's Day, a day filled with flowers, dinners, love and...wig shopping. Didn't ever think this would be how I would spend my Valentines (or any day really) but here we are!

I'm unsure what to expect but the sales assistant is very calm and kind, so instantly Mum, Caitlin and I feel much better. I can't imagine myself without any hair - maybe I might just be one of those freakish people that holds on to their locks! But I'll get a wig just in case, you know the clever thing to do.
We try on a few different styles with each one me learning what looks good and getting used to wearing a wig! We end up settling on a Raquel Welsh one that I can heat and style. In the space of an hour it has quickly become an expensive afternoon with my wig kit.

Now to bring the wig home and freak out Luke by displaying it in my room!


 Mum, Caitie and I grab some lunch afterwards and smell some lovely sea air too - this day has turned out to be pretty good!
 

Introducing the Sunshine Six

Monday 13 February 2017

Introducing the Sunshine Six project ~ my little project to bring a little happiness into my chemo journey. I want to keep myself the same happy person with a love of everything pretty.  My goal with the Sunshine Six is to begin each of my cycles of chemo wearing outfits that have the essence of being happy and full of sunshine, despite being somewhere I'd rather not be.

Sunshine Session 1


    
For my first chemo session I was ready for  battle wearing almost all black. Feeling pretty and comfy wearing my Wild Flower wrap skirt. 

Here we go! Cycle 1

Tuesday 7 February 2017

I'm up and awake early - wish I was more of a morning person like this usually (yes Dave and Gemma I can already hear your eye rolls and your 'I'd like to see that - when pigs fly' comment from here!).
I put some music on and of course fairy lights and I'm ready for battle. I grab my chemo bag which by the time I've put all my books, magazines, socks, cardigan, and the kitchen sink in - it feels like a seven kilo carry on bag for Jetstar! Of course all this prepping makes me late - despite being up super early, we arrive at my first appointment 15 minutes late...whoops!

Mum and I walk around the chemotherapy day suite as my nurse Tora give us a tour. She tells us to pick any chair we like the look of. Mum and I walk as if we are on a plane - window seat or aisle? After careful deliberation we choose a seat that's near a tv as we think Dad might like to watch it. But as soon as we sit down we are instantly dissatisfied with our choice - we soon become ' those people' changing seats to a nice window view of a very rainy, cloud filled day. I tell mum to play it cool - as we are the new chemo kids on the block and just want to fit in! haha despite the fact that I am an easy 30 years younger than any other patient in here!

The day is long and I end up being in the chemo suite for about eight hours. As its my first time, they have to do my infusion very slowly just in case I have a reaction to it. I get lots of visitors in this time. From the pharmacist (who explains my seemingly complicated medication routine for the next ten days), various nurses, youth support as well as the beautiful Steph! Who came across in her lunch break and brought me some pretty sunflowers too!

She takes over whilst Mum and Dad go grab some lunch. We keep the plane theme going and work out where I could be travelling in the time it takes me to finish this super slow snail pace infusion. We work out that it will take about five hours and we will be heading to Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia - maybe I can swim with some whale sharks...if I'm lucky. It's lovely to see her and makes the day go that much faster.

My chemo regime goes over three weeks. So this is day 1 of 126 or 18 weeks. (Hmmm maybe I won't count down until that sounds a little shorter!). In the first week I have three sessions of chemotherapy, followed by one week of injections (which I have to do myself - eeek!) to keep my white blood cells up, then the third week is a rest week where hopefully my body and white cell count would have recovered. Then I do this six times over - sounds easy...right?

Finally I can go home from the day suite and have a good sleep. The next few days I go back for my other two sessions to swap out my slow release pump for - you guessed it, another slow release pump!

So far the only side effects I'm having is fatigue and that gross 'chemo' taste in my mouth where everything tastes like nothing! Besides that I'm trekking on just fine.


Courage is moving forward despite fear!




T'was the night before Chemo

Monday 6 February 2017

In the days leading up to my first chemo, I treat myself to some retail therapy - I mean its only fair and I do need to prepare. Oh better buy some new shoes because I need to be comfy, and socks just in case my feet get cold, oh and some new pyjamas because i'll be spending lots of time in bed, oh and...well I can't really explain why I bought that top or those three other dresses. Okay I think I've slightly let it get out of control.

T'was the night before chemo, when outside my house. A beautiful angel named Caitlin was about.

She drops by an amazing Chemo kit stocked with everything I could ever think of, making it kind of exciting in a strange way to begin chemo.


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