My first thoughts of dealing with Cancer were, I can just cut it out, and be done with it.(Why didn't the GI take it out when he did the colonoscopy anyway, damn him) OK, so I was sent to the Oncologist, and he prescribed a port, with the surgeon, for the chemotherapy. ( Oh great, I'll have to be in the hospital and be stuck in a bed for weeks on end, I'll probably lose my job, and my wife will dessert me) I had a meeting with the oncology nurse,(receptionist said, Odie will be with you in a minute). Odie handed me papers to review which described the side effects, and cautions of doing chemotherapy, and told me to report on Monday, to get my treatments. I, of course was scared beyond belief of how sick I would get, should I bring my wife, would I have to be admitted to the hospital, should I eat, just an assortment of random thoughts, and they all scared me beyond belief. Well Odie, ( who by the way has a very unusual name, has trained many of the oncology nurses in Houston, during her tenure at MD Anderson, and future endeavors) hooked up my port, gave me my chemo, told me not to drink any cold things, as it may give me breathing problems, and report back tomorrow, for more of the same. I was also sent home with this battery operated pump, that was to be my companion for a couple of days. ( Surely they were using Eveready batteries, because after knowing the insurance company just got charged $1,000.00, they could afford the best batteries, NOT) Anyway, I could go on and on. It was a Houston summer of daily 100 degree days totaling almost 45 in a row. As I hate being told what to do, I turned on the air conditioning in the car to full blast, pulled out the coke from my ice chest, and drove the 35 miles home, as if nothing had happened. Well, if the truth be told, I just happen to be one of those people, that had no problem with cold drinks, before during or after Oxiloplatin. The whole point of this dissertation, is to let you know Chemotherapy can be a life saver, and side effects vary from person to person. Because you have Chemotherapy, radiation, or any other treatments, you'll find surgery still needs to be done. If you want to get rid of cancer, there are no shortcuts, believe me I have already tried to figure out a better way, than what the doctors already told me was going to happen. Ha, after all, I could never get Cancer anyway
Regards,
Michael