This week marked the beginning of chemotherapy and radiation treatments for my wife. She still maintains that her treatment will result in being cured and that come sometime in February, she will be able to resume her life.
Let me break this down in a little more detail.
First, chemotherapy is being used because leeches are like so Middle Ages. Chemotherapy is the purposeful injection of poison into your body that works much like the theory of the game “chicken”. You hope the “bad” cells are killed before the “good” ones. Depending on the dosage and frequency of treatment this may or may not work. However, it turns out, your body and immune system take a beating. Oh, to get your body to tolerate the chemo drugs, they give you other stuff before and after.
Radiation is more of the same. It is trying to concentrate a lethal dose of this unseen killer at a particular point or points in the body. As mentioned in a previous installment, the radiated tissue must be removed in a window five to ten weeks after “treatment” ends. Also, they forget to remind you that all the tissue which the radiation passes thru to get to the cancer takes a beating as well. The military would call this collateral damage but guys in white lab coats call it medicine.
Oh, my wife’s new basis for claiming that she will be cured is that the doctor filled out her initial disability application and said that the soonest that she could return to work would be February 2022. In her mind this means that she will be cured by February. Is this an example of childlike faith or utter delusion? I think the latter. In my opinion, my wife’s optimism is that of a five-year-old aspiring to be the next Disney Princess. This may be cute when looking at five-year-old children but in adults its disturbing.
As to the actual treatment. We were at the hospital for just over seven hours for the first round of chemo instead of the expected two and a half to three hours. My wife had a reaction to the drug, and it took much longer than advertised. After a few hours at home, she had a horrible headache and was not allowed to take any medication for the pain. (The following day she was told Tylenol would be ok to take.) In addition, while she has no fever, it looks like she spent 14 hours in the sun yesterday as her skin is a very bright shade of red; especially her face.
Two days later, my wife is lethargic and had some nausea. There is a prescription for that if she remembers to take it. She also spent a few hours in bed but was unable to nap so she opted to read a book.
The treatment train has left the station. I plan to post another update in about a week as we travel thru this journey.