Tag: chemotherapy

  • 238/365 : Breakfast of Champions VI

    238/365 : Breakfast of Champions VI

    Here we go again! As has become tradition around here, I present to you the box of Tic Tacs I must take every morning for three days during each cycle of my FCR chemotherapy.

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  • 237/365 : Bang a gong

    237/365 : Bang a gong

    The Ottawa Hospital’s MDCU (Medical Day-Care Unit) has a fun tradition for its patients just completing their last treatment: banging a gong.

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  • 181/365 : At least I didn’t forget my meds

    181/365 : At least I didn’t forget my meds

    Today is Day 1 of Round 4 of my 6-round chemotherapy treatment for small lymphocytic lymphoma. Day 1 treatment always involves a trip to the “medical daycare” at the Ottawa Hospital, where nurses administer a Rituximab injection. The rest of my chemo drugs (cyclophosphamide and fludarabine) are oral, with pills I pick up at the pharmacy (with a prescription, naturally). I’ve been documenting my journey and always bring my trusty Fujifilm X100V with me to the hospital, and today was no different. Almost.

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  • 158/365 : Lunch of champions

    158/365 : Lunch of champions

    One of the legendary side effects of chemotherapy is… nausea. Oh, that glorious upheaval and queasiness that leaves you feeling crummy, woozy, uncomfortable, and all-around gross. They say that when you’re nauseous, the best thing to do is the exact opposite of what you feel like doing: eat. Of course, most food is completely unappealing while nauseous because of taste, smell, texture, whatever. But ya gotta eat. So… soda crackers (or saltines, if you’re so inclined) to the rescue.

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  • 153/365 : Hazardous material

    153/365 : Hazardous material

    Into the Medical Daycare for Round three — of six! halfway there, yay! — of FCR chemotherapy to treat my CLL/SLL lymphoma. So it turns out this rituximab injection is very, very nasty stuff. I think if the nurses could wear hazmat suits when dealing with it they’d consider it, and I wouldn’t really blame them.

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  • 125/365 : Not quite a punch in the gut

    125/365 : Not quite a punch in the gut

    Today is day 1 of the second round of FCR chemotherapy treatment for my CLL/SLL lymphoma. Unlike in the first round, when the Rituximab was administered in a 6-hour IV drip, this time around the 1,600mg dose is injected directly into my belly fat over the course of about 5 minutes. The nurse had no […]

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