Today was cycle 2 of chemo. I was getting ready to go for my chemo treatment when Reuben and I decided my straggly hair looked too bad. He decided to help me shave it all off. At first the long hair kept getting jammed and stuck in the shaver. After some trial and error, we used scissors to cut it short before shaving. Here is a photo of me bald. (if you click on the photo, you get a bigger image).My kids were very affected by my baldness even though we had allowed the hair loss to happen gradually. I told them it means the chemo is working because it kill the cancer cells as well as fast growing good cells. And we can look forward to the hair growing again.
As a result I was 15 minutes late getting to the doctors. These 2 show me dressed up and ready to go out. Quite a cool hat - my sister Lilian got it from the US and my sister-in-law's mum carried it and a few other pieces back for me. Lilian knows I like neutral colours. I dressed the hat up with my own scarf. Some other patients at the hospital still stared, so i just smiled at them.
I had my blood test done first then waited for the results and had my consultation with the doctor. Praise the Lord, the tumor has definitely shrunk. It was very hard and quite defined when I was first diagnosed. Now it is more diffuse and softer to the touch. The lump (consisting 4 smaller tumors close together) measured about 6x7cm then and now it is about 3x3.5cm. The lymph nodes have also shrunk! God is gracious to me.
As the blood test was good, i was able to proceed with the drug infusion - same drugs as the first time but dosage of carboplatin was recalculated based on blood test. Dr Karmen Wong asked me again about the side effects I experienced and then prescribed some medicine to control them and make me feel even more comfortable.
Chemo started at 10.45 am and lasted till 2.20pm. By about 12.30pm I started to have hunger pangs. Managed to contact Vera and ask her to bring me some food when she came to pick me. Thank you Vera! After getting home I had some salad and fried rice before having a nap. I felt really tired - didn't sleep so well last night.
