Friday 1 April 2011

Starting With a Little Class

3 days till the start of Chemo and starting to feel a little anxious!

Today was chemo class at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre.  It was good to get down there and see the centre and get my bearings.  It is kinda intimidating as one approaches the Centre as it is very large building and it made me think that there are so many people who get cancer... so many people who have to go through this.  

I get to the auditorium and find a seat, noticing that it was not a very large group of people but what a variety.  All these people are here to get some information on what they are going to go through, what to expect.  The presenter today was one on the nurses from what they called the day care centre and she gave her presentation from what I'm sure has been a well practiced lecture.  I am not sure it gave me much more info than I had already learned.  However, I did learn one thing and that is when I am done all my treatments I was told that my hair will grow back.  This bit of news is very exciting, as a person going bald before all this happened I thought I would never see it again!

After the presentation we got the tour and got to see the area where they administer the chemo drugs, aka day care.  Now this was one very busy place and had a lot of people there receiving their treatment.  An interesting fact is that every single person is given a taylor made regiment of drugs designed specifically for them and are made right there in the Cancer Centre pharmacy.  The day of treatment the cocktail is made 2 hours before you start and can only be used by the person it is developed for.  The other thing that I found amazing was the cost of each treatment can run into the 10's of thousands depending on what drugs are being used.  

The next stop was the out patient pharmacy right there in the hospital where I got my anti-nausea medications that my doctor had prescribed: Dexamethasone, Ondansetron and Metoclopramide.  I'm to use these during my treatments to help combat the effects of the chemo.  Following a proper regiment I'm told can lessen the side effects a great deal.  The forth medication prescribed comes as a single injection and is called Neulasta which I'm told helps my bone marrow increase the white cell production.  I must say a special thanks to Trysh and her drug plan as this single injection which I'll have to do at least 2 more times comes at a cost of $2600 a shot and with out her drug plan would be unaffordable.

So I have to say today was another stressful one but also a very positive one.  I feel better prepared for this adventure and know I'll get through this.  Thanks again to all of you and love you all!
   

3 comments:

  1. Dude, you might get some hair out of the deal? Nice! :)

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  2. We are all pulling for you, Grant. If the power of positive thinking has any influence at all in this universe, then you'll be a-ok just from the love of all your friends.

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  3. I'm reminded of the old Vaudaville routine.

    Patient: "Doctor, will I be able to play the violin after the operation?"

    Doctor: "Of course!"

    Patient: "That's great because I have never been able to play it before!"

    Maybe it works for hair as well. For some who have done chemo, their hair comes in in tight curls like Persian lamb. We will get pictures because, unfortunately, it doesn't last.

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