Matt's Cancer

28/07/2020 - Consultation For Chemo

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I have a consultation with Dr Szita.
Mum & Dad take me to Burton hospital. Mum comes to the consultation with me, I’m not sure what I’m going to be told.
The first question I ask is how will the chemo be administered. Depending on the type of bladder cancer, this could be through a catheter, I would have to lay on my side for a certain amount of time, then lay on my other side.

The other way the chemo would be administered would be injected into my wrist or the back of my hand through a drip. In my case, this would be administered in the back of my hand, as this needed to go through a vein.
I was so relieved this would be administered this way rather than through a catheter, as the thought of that really freaks me out.

Dr Szita told me what my chemo plan would be, this would be 3 rounds of chemo, (which actually was 6 rounds, but I will explain the other 3 rounds later).
Then a CT scan, to see if and how well the chemo treatment is working. Then, if after the second round of chemo is working well, I would have the third round of chemo.
After my chemo treatment, I will need time to recover from the treatment, then have my operation. I was told I wouldn’t be able to have my operation straight after chemo as this would be too dangerous, I would have to recover and build myself back up again, so I would be fit enough for surgery.

I asked what would happen if the chemo didn’t work, or as well as intended. Dr Szita told me, if that was the case, I wouldn’t have round three of chemo, they would simply push for my operation sooner, but after recovering from the chemo.
Dr Szita explained the rounds of chemo, in my case each round is three weeks, always on a Friday.

• Round 1
• Week one I would be given four injections to take home, I will have to inject myself once a day from the following Sunday. These injections are to help boost my immune system.
• Week two will only be about two hours, the rest of the time would be waiting for blood results.
• Week three, no treatment, stay at home, give my body a break from chemo. Then the following Friday, round two of chemo starts, the same as round one.
• Round 2 & 3
• Same as round 1

Dr Szita explained the chemo treatment will be soon, she marked it down as urgent, which made me feel good moving forward rather than worrying how long I would have to wait and what’s happening to my body.
Before my treatment I will have an appointment to come back to see the pharmacist who will go through the chemo in more detail, including any side effects. Then I would be shown around the chemo ward.