I've been a bit slack, this post is two days late. But I'm sure I'll catch up very quickly.
Monday I drove to Palmerston North to have the fist cycle administered. Bringing along my daughter Ashleigh and her partner Michael who are here on holiday from Brisbane, Australia.
Michael's never been out of Australia before and had been primed by his mates about how New Zealand was full of sheep and all the jokes that go with that territory.
It's over a two hour drive to Palmerston North from Wellington and a distance of around 150km's. I'm pleased to say we didn't see a single sheep the entire way there.
The appointment was for 3pm and despite having been to the clinic before I still managed to get lost and only just walked in the door as the clock struck 3pm.
Dr Richard Isaacs was passing reception as we entered and he snatched us away, joking that he thought I'd has second thoughts.
He seated me down in the ubiquitous La-Z-Boy chair, standard equipment in any chemo day ward, and proceeded to try and cannulate me.
I told him I was next to impossible to get a line into and that many had tried and failed. He ignored me, found a vein in my left arm near the elbow and slid the cannula in effortlessly." F@rking piece of piss!" he exclaimed. This doctor's bedside manner and attitude is just awesome! a great guy.
The nurse hooked up the small 150ml or so bag of Adcetris and it dripped away quite merrily for the next 25 minutes or so. Once empty she squeezed the last few drops from the bag, figuring that there was still around $300 worth to extract. A quick saline flush for another 5 minutes and I was free to go.
No side effects, no nausea, I felt completely normal relative to me.
After stopping for a bite to meat at the local Subway we drove home via the scenic route which took us through farmland. So Michael got to see some sheep after-all.
We drove over the Paekakariki hill road, a twisty scenic road through the hills so I could show Michael the route that I went over during the 2009 Dunlop Targa road race. Despite sticking to the speed limit I think I still managed to give him a fairly exciting ride. During Targa we are limited to 200kph, however this time we never exceeded 100kph but it is such an enjoyable piece of road to drive briskly.
So all in all an uneventful day zero. No perception at all that I'd just taken a cycle of chemo.
Day 1 up next.
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