Chimiothérapie en français
Greetings, friends! In this post we’ll talk about that first Chemo session back in 2017! I had been diagnosed 11 days earlier and gone through a whole host of procedures and appointments in that time.
*Disclaimer* Please remember this is simply an account of my experience, everyone reacts to Chemotherapy differently, some find it easier, some find it harder, there’s no way to predict how you would react until you try.
I was prescribed the protocol “Folfirinox” (Or in some countries, “Folfoxiri”) This protocol includes the following drugs:
- Leucovorin
- Oxaliplatin
- Irinotecan
- 5-FU (Fluorouracil)
This was a total of around 51 hours of infusions and the 5-FU drug can be very hard on your heart so for the first session I was admitted to the hospital for 3 days while they administered the chemo and monitored my heart twice a day.
I was very interested to see how the Port (PAC) in my chest would work and how it would feel, The amount of tubing and sterile materials they used was shocking.
Preparing the supplies to access my port
Here you can see all the IV supplies needed to access my port and attach the chemo and pump.
- IV Saline Bag
- IV Tubing
- Flow controller
- Medication “switcher” (I’ve no idea what these are called but they allow for multiple bags to be attached to one line, each bag has it’s own “Tap” so you can control the flow)
- Sterile gauze
- Film dressing
- Saline Syringe
- Sterile field
- Port Needle
Once all the tubes and bags were set up it was time to access my port, I’d been given a Lidocaine patch to numb the area where the needle would go, the needle itself is quite thick so some find it painful. I’ve since had many accesses done without the patch and for me it’s not too bad but i still like to use the patch when I can because it just makes it easier.
So the first drug we hook up is the Oxaliplatin. This takes 2 hours, it isn’t so bad, just some light nausea and cold sensitivity. (Touching anything metal or cold causes great pain, like needles being stabbed to the area) Next up is the Irinotecan and this is where the fun really starts! This infusion takes 1.5 hours but it felt like it was never going to end.
The nausea started pretty much straight away and only got worse. The nurse that was assigned to me spoke a bit of English so thankfully I didn’t have to worry too much about making myself understood, as long as I spoke slowly and clearly she was very good and very understanding. The intensity of the nausea was a shock though, I didn’t know someone could feel so sick without actually vomiting. I spent a lot of time in the bathroom waiting to bring up my lunch but that point never arrived.
Naturally this was quite upsetting, the tears started flowing at this point as I sat on a folding chair in the bathroom just waiting to be sick. The nurse gave me multiple IV anti nausea meds, pausing the chemo each time to allow the meds to be pushed through faster. This of course extended the overall time of the infusion though.
The hospitals in my area of France either have double or single rooms, there’s no large wards of 8/9 people like there is in UK. I very much appreciated this as I sat on the edge of my bed, still waiting to be sick. I was in a double room with a lovely older lady who was going through her own traumatic battle for her life. She was struggling as much as I was with her treatment but she’d been at it for much longer. She didn’t speak any English but we made friends through shared pain and sign language. I learned my first lesson from her that I still stand by to this day: Bra’s are overrated, take them off and let your chest and lungs be free. It helps with the nauseous feelings and in general makes things much more comfortable. From that day I never wore a bra to chemo again.
At some point I accepted the fact that I wasn’t going to vomit and I would just have to deal with this absolutely insane nausea. I laid down and continued to sob into my pillow until the infusion was over. While I didn’t feel much better once it was over, I did know that every minute from that moment on, I would be getting over it. This helped me cope at least!
So after the Irinotecan we started on the 5-FU, we had to change IV pumps because the 5-FU needed a smaller “drip” than the normal pump was capable of. This also marked the start of the constant ECGs I’d have to have over the next 46 hours.
The following days were pretty calm, I’d get anti nausea meds before every meal and once the 5-FU was finished I was allowed to go for a walk outside. Not long later I was allowed to go home again, all my EGCs were normal so they were happy for me to continue my treatment as an outpatient rather than having to be admitted every two weeks.
So there we have it, my first Chemotherapy experience, thanks for reading. Next time I’ll tell you all about my various “Urgances” admissions (A&E / ER) during those first few months where we learned what was normal and what was not.
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