Half way there and then all hell breaks loose

          I am writing this from the DSH undergoing my 4th chemo and soon my 14th radiation. I came in early to the hospital at 9.00am but there were many patients waiting to be admitted. So the admission process was slow and I nearly fell asleep waiting for my turn.By the time I went into the clinic it was 10.00am. Today the oncology clinic is full. Yes literally full. Many new faces and a couple of familiar face. Dr Lum dropped by to see me and reassured that the treatment was going according to plan. The blood result was back and my full blood count was normal and so was the renal profile test. Which means that I am coping with the chemo pretty well. He looked down my throat and commented that it was red due to radiation and that from now my throat will progressively get redder and more painful as the radiation burns the tissue in the throat area.. The real test is about to begin.

Time out for a pic

            Around 11:30am my wife and daughter,Eli, dropped by to bring some cheer. It was almost lunch time and so they took my orders of mash potatoes and clod slaw. (KFC). They soon disappeared to buy my lunch while I carried on with the monotony of chemo drip. Ugh!.  By the time they returned, something had gone wrong with the drip. The cannula had become adrift and the drip was no longer going into my veins but discharging into the muscles and underneath the skin. This caused a huge swelling in my right wrist. Lucky the nurse on duty noticed it and stopped the drip. I was left with a stark choice of now having my left wrist pierced  to continue the drip process or somehow convince the medical people that the last 2 bottles were only saline water and that I could drink that water as a replacement. After giving assurance that I will consume 2 cans of 100 plus and eat bananas as a replacement for the remaining drip, I was given the green light to do the radiation and go home. It was a long day. Got home at 1530hrs.
                   Towards the evening my regular golf buddies from KGNS dropped by to see how I was faring. By the time they left it was 1930 and I was kind of not feeling well. Tiredness had set in. I told Chris I wanted to eat dinner earlier and then go to sleep and rest. A cold chill started to creep into my body. I switched all fan and aircon but the feeling kept on creeping in. I crawled into bed at eight and put on a heavy blanket to try and keep warm. The chill and cold descended into my body and there was nothing I could do but try to weather the storm out. I dozed off but suddenly alarm bells started ringing in my head. My head was dizzy and hot and all hell was breaking loose. I thought I did not have enough 100 plus and I was dehydrated. So I SMS my wife downstairs to urgently buy warm 100 plus immediately. Everyone rushed upstairs and to see me. A thermometer strip put on my forehead read 40C...wow.. that's very high. I told Eli to bring be some Panadol and I downed 2 in row. I got the blood pressure machine to see my pressure and it registered 77/118. Not bad. That night was a real torture. There were so many negative thought spinning around with negative outcomes. Creating any thing positive thoughts was impossible. I was loosing  the mental battle. I left it at that. I began to think of a contingency plan just in case the fever or any thing else put my life at a further risk. I just disappeared into my contingency plan and fell asleep.

                     The next morning I could not wake up at the usual time. I was drained and exhausted. The fever had subsided but the head was fuzzy. I went back to DSH for my scheduled radiation and also a chat with my oncologist about the events of the previous night. Nothing was out of the ordinary I was assured.
It is 2 day since that event, and only now I am beginning to recover my strength.Enough to finish this blog that I started writing 2 days ago.My weight down to 84.5 kg. A loss of 8 kg in 3 weeks!! I really need to nourish my self with food. But this is easier said than done. Food taste is non existence. I cannot tell the difference from cream caramel and tou foo fah. Sugar and salt has no taste.Soy bean milk is tasteless and so is coconut water. Dare not try chili and curry for now. The best food I found easy to eat is Ipoh Kuay Tiaw and fish-balls. Fruits and vegetables are OK.

This pic shows me on the radiation room ready for the zap. They mark my body and align me accurately and then lock me down with the face mask and then let the computerised function take over. The whole process is painless and takes 20 minutes.

I know the I am half way there and in another 4 weeks it will be all over. Please keep the e-mails rolling in. I did not have any time to reply in the last 2 days but now I will. Thank you all for phone calls. Thank you Sally, I appreciated that call that night. Very timely !!.