Matt's Cancer

Chemo Round 3

Page 17

25/09/2020
Chemo Round 3 Week 1
Mum & Dad take me to Burton hospital.
I’m looking forward to completing my chemo treatment. Dr Szita has told me after chemo, I will soon have my operation, then there will be no more chemo after that.

02/10/2020
Chemo Round 3 Week 2
I spoke to a couple of the nurses on the chemo ward and told them more about my case, it’s only after talking to them I realised they didn’t know much about my cancer. I assumed this would be in my notes and they would know all about this. They seemed quite interested and I didn’t mind talking about it.
On my last day, I tell one of the nurses after my operation and I’m well enough...Before I can finish, she asks “are you coming back?”
I replied “yes”. She says “please do”.

After going home and completing my chemo treatment, I’m visiting the loo during the night every 2-3 hours, again this is another improvement, better then every 10 minutes.
My way of thinking is, the chemo treatment was shrinking the cancer cells and working well, by the time I had round 2 of chemo, there were less cancer cells for the chemo to shrink. So this aggravated my bladder less than it did on round 1 of chemo.
By the time I had round 3 of chemo, there's even less cancer cells for the chemo to shrink, this in return aggravated my bladder even less then round 2. I’m not really sure if it’s a case of less cancer cells or smaller cancer cells.
But what I do know is the chemo treatment I had is not the cure, but to ultimately contain the cancer and prevent it from spreading.

I count myself lucky, because in my case my cancer is contained only in my bladder. If this had spread, this would be a totally different story.

In general I would say I got off lightly with the effects of the chemo, it did knock me about a little and I did have a few side effects. But compared to some people I have sailed through it.
There’s people who have been on chemo treatment for a much longer period of time than me. It goes without saying, their dosage would be much greater than mine, I can’t begin to imagine how this would affect them, with side effects, emotionally, physically and mentally.
I wish them all well and hope they get through it.

I’m now at home, waiting for my appointment to see my surgeon Mr Thomas. I’ve been told my operation won’t happen until at least 6-8 weeks after my last chemo treatment.

Liz was the nurse who cared for me on my first day, Angie was the nurse who cared for me most of the time. I was cared for by most if not all the nurses on the chemo ward.
All the staff on the ward are kind, caring and look after their patients very well. If you have any problems, they are there to help.