The morning started early at 7am, we were due at Rosemere for an 8am start. We made it in time, even with my morning lethargy! We had a choice of seats as we were the first and then I was hooked up again for the next 8 hours.
As the IV was doing its job I noticed that my left arm (with the drip) had become ice cold, much more than before. The nurse was also surprised that my veins were also very prominent as chemo can damage to the veins, but mine had coped well with the toxic drugs.
About mid morning the trials nurse, Claire Searle came to see us. She always visited when I was having chemo but we had missed her in the last couple of meetings. She spent about an hour with us and went into great detail about the operation as she had received all the notes from Mr Ball.
It was really interesting to find out about everything that went on during the operation. After meeting the geneticist a couple of weeks back, she kind of ruled out the cancer being genetic but will look into it to make sure; that leaves two options in my mind of why it happened.
The first being a bacteria called H. plyori. This bacteria, if left untreated will cause stomach cancer. The notes from Mr Ball and pathology state that none of this bacteria was present so did not cause the cancer. That then leaves the only other possible explanation, a bad roll of the dice and being unlucky.
We also discussed some of the pains I have been getting throughout my recovery and Claire was able to empathise with me; but also she put this into context too. She told me that as I had exceeded expectations so far on my recovery and had stopped taking pain relief she was confident that these are just pains where my gut is readjusting. She also told me that most people are still on constant pain relief and that sone are still in hospital even after 8 weeks, I decided to be quiet and quit complaining!
Just before lunch we had some more visitors, Auntie Norma and Auntie Margaret. They are like a double act and help with fundraising for Rosemere. They have been family friends for ever and are both involved with the Scouts. They only stayed a short while but it was good as they always have a laugh and lighten the mood.
We had our lunch and the chemo was flowing well, I had not set off the alarms all day. About mid afternoon my manager, Karyn, came to visit. She brought gifts too, a box of GF Cornflakes. She also brought with her 4 t-shirts, one each for the boys and one for me and Leonie. I didn't expect them and they were awesome. A picture of superman with my face and the words CHEMOMAN!
We finished up chemo about 4 and got home to see the boys, my mum was looking after them. I was a little anxious going into chemo this time as I had been warned it would be more difficult; but it had all gone well and now it was time to relax and recuperate.
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