I think that I used to wonder what was so
terrible about chemotherapy. So I thought I'd briefly describe it.
The first problem is the needle. Though I'm more
needle-tolerant now than I was before I went through chemo, it becomes painful to receive a
needle in the same place every day for several weeks. It becomes very
tender in that area. Not to mention that they have to stick you in the
hand or the
wrist, as opposed to the inside of your
elbow, which is less sensitive. Sometimes they would leave a tube in, so that they wouldn't have to stick me again the next day. Sometimes the tube would get plugged, and the next day when the nurse would try to put
saline through it it would put intense pressure on the inside of my vein, which would cause intense pain. I would realize at that point that leaving the tube in
overnight and dealing with the slight, constant stinging had done me no good, and that I was going to have to get stuck again anyway.
Even before the needle, however, comes the rubbing alchohol. Though it's almost a pleasant
smell the first few times, once your body associates it with the impending needle, and the drugs to follow, it
quickly becomes an
intolerable smell that makes you sick to your
stomach. I began having to plug my nose whenever the nurse would apply it.. Then there's the yellow stuff they rub on, which is equally repulsive, but has the added disadvantage of having a rather sickly
appearence as well.
So once the needle is in, they run
saline (salt water) through to wash it out. At first, the only sensation is coldness, but after a while that too becomes a foreboding sensation.
And then they hang the big chemical bag from the metal stand, hook the tube to your
IV, power up the
machine, and let it go. And there that bag hangs, perhaps a few liters full, I don't know, and you know you'll have to endure what is to come until that bag is completely empty. My treatments were, I think, 3 or so
hours long. And the liquid starts
flowing.
At first, it's just cold again, like the
saline. In fact, that's all it's like for the first week or so, you get out each day thinking "wow, this isn't so bad after all." It's long and tedious, but
doable. You still have all your hair as well, at this point.
But then, after a week or so, you start to notice this
taste in your
mouth. Little do you know you won't be able to rid yourself of this
taste/
smell until your chemo is done. It's not altogether
unpleasant at first, it's metallic, but that's its only similarity to anything else I can
imagine.
As more time goes by, this taste is more and more
disturbing. It's especially noticable when you're actually getting the chemo done (and some kind of strongly-flavored food is
required to help ease it), but it's noticable all the time. It makes you feel sick. Whenever you visit the restroom (which you do often, and in great quantities), your
piss smells like it too. No matter how much you eat or drink, that
taste is ever-present.
The coldness of the
IV becomes more of a problem as well, in conjuction with the
taste of the chemo, it makes you feel especially sick. You'll find yourself wrapping your IV'd
arm with a warm, damp
towel to help alleviate the coldness, in conjuction with
eating.
Then, of course, one morning you find a lock of
hair on your pillow. At this point, I shaved it all, rather than sentence myself to watching it fall out
gradually. I'm sure this was easier for me than it is for
women. It was an interesting change of pace, and friends gave me some cool
hats too.
Even when one day is finally over, you know you'll be back again
tomorrow. But I can't imagine the feeling that
terminal patients have, that they'll be doing this until they
die. What a terrible
sentence.
Did I mention that I'm
happy to be alive? Truly
happy.