My first treatment of R-CVP was on Friday 5th July after being diagnosed with Marginal Zone Lymphoma the previous day, 4th July (incase you couldn't work it out). The ward i was in I was with 3 other guys who had been there for a number of weeks, they where very friendly and a great bunch to be with (Martin, Charlie and Michael) they where also very supportive.
The morning of the chemo I had a nice shower and then went for an x-ray to see the progression of my chest to see if it was possibly clearing up (which was just the same as on the Wednesday) and returned to have the Chemo ready for me just before lunch.
Got my piriton in me and while it took effect they done all their checks on the bottle and drips etc, I hate the piriton makes me drowsy for the rest of the day, anyway the gave me my the two chemos which i hadn't had before my Prednisolone and began me on the Rituximab (both of which i had been on before as an immunosuppresant).
I was quite calm and relaxed and really not that bothered about getting chemotherapy, from a fairly young age I knew at some point I was going to get cancer, not that the doctors had said I would and I had certainly been in much worse sittuations especially with my stomach bleeds, lying in bed, incredibly drowsy having been throwing up stomach fulls of blood for five hours or more. On more occassions that i cared to count.
I also know not to get excited about new things as over the years the times that i've heard about this miracle drug and this one that works brilliantly with people with ITP etc that just don't, so ive learnt not to get excited about things untill it it works brilliantly on ME and is a miracle drug for ME. Everyone reacts differently to drugs and experiences.
But the day went fine and didnt have any problems with any of the drugs, no apparent side effects and all was going fine, all the while coughing because of my chest, which they still hadn't found out what had been causing that.
Over the next few days only one thing seemed to be causing me problems and that was when i tasted something, whatever side i tasted it on, the ear and neck on the same side hurt. Not chewing, just tasting, my guess is that the glands where swollen and my saliva glands where caught up in it and that's what was causing it, just a guess though. Finally on the Tuesday night the nurses came in to move me to another private ward because they had found out what was causing the problems with my chest....
Turned out it was some type of Virus that is common in people that are on immunosuppresants and have ITP, didn't take in the name of it. They moved me so the other guys in the ward did not get it aswell, as I would not be good to be around if they didn't have an immune system with being on chemo. I'm quite a reclusive person and like my own time so I was happy enough with this, had my Nook for reading, Kindle Fire for films, Phone for socializing and Vita for gaming, couldn't be happier.
The following day on the Wednesday the physiotherapist came to monitor me and see if I was fit enough to go home and make sure my respiration and heart rate where ok, which they where and was allowed to get home (10th July) was a bit dissapointed as i didn't get much time to sit around by myself and do whatever, but it was still nice to get home.
The virus they told me had to just be worked out of my system by myself, so was going on walks and doing some breathing exercises to try and loosen things up and it slowly improved to the point it is now where it just seems to be a bit of guck I need to get out rather than the virus being there anymore.
Retuned for a checkup the following Wednesday and the counts where all good and didn't have any problems and they where happy that I didn't need to come back untill my next cycle of chemo on the 26th July...