Yes you read that right; the last cycle has been done. It sounds strange saying and writing this but hubby has completed his last cycle!!! There is no more chemo!!!!! That hurdle has been well and truly dealt with!!!!
Some of you may be aware that he was meant to have 6 cycles of chemo but he has only had 4, so read on to find out why.
Hubby’s oncologist was an individual that in my opinion showed absolutely no empathy, made it obvious that he did not think much to females and did not like to be questioned. On the three occasions that we have been to see the oncologist my feelings have not changed in the slightest, I think he only said good bye to me once. I’m not saying this individual was not good at his job as he was; he just lacked a few things and empathy was one of them. Obviously during something like cancer there are so many questions going through your head and you would like them answered. Several times we asked the oncologist questions and he never seemed to be able to explain and answer the question, for example one question being “Why is hubby having a scan after chemo to check for cancer when the tumour has been removed and it had not spread?.” He was never able to answer this question, it took hubby to ask a different professor to get this question answered.
I was always under the impression as this is all new to me that we would see the oncologist on a regular basis, how wrong was I ???? I believe so far through this journey we have seen the oncologist about 3 times and are due to see him after the scan for the results. Considering how awful hubbys cycles have been, there has only been one occasion when we have seen the oncologist during the cycles and then it was only due to the extravasation during cycle 2. On top of which hubby had to chase up the appointment, L the amount of chasing that we have had to do during this journey is shocking.
During this journey there have been several questions that we wanted answers to but it’s been near on impossible to get answers to. Questions like how often are the follow up’s after the operation, when do you have the follow up CT scan to check the cancer has not spread, will this disease be passed to my kids? The list of questions was never ending and it as not always easy to get answers.
So whilst having a check up appointment with the surgeon, we expressed our concerns and he suggested another oncologist we could go see. So that is just what we did, well hubby did, I had to pick the kids up from school so could not go. Roger phoned briefly afterwards to say he was on his way home and said it was a well worth appointment. J It would seem the oncologist answered all his questions and some!!! It was great to see hubby in such a positive frame of mind. From what I could gather all our questions had been answered which was about time. When he got home and was telling me all about it, it sounded like it had been a really interesting appointment. Wish I had been able to go with him, but mummy duties had to come first. This individual specialises in colorectal cancer unlike the other oncologist, and by the sound of it he knew exactly what he was talking about. But then you would put your trust and belief in all oncologists, wound you not? So with this in mind it came as a shock when hubby said that he had been told that on the cycle that he was unable to have the cannula due to the pain and the one at Christmas when he was ill he could have still gone ahead with the Capecitabine tablets, as these have more effect when taken over a longer period just like other medication. We had spent the past 4 months under the impression that you need to take both the Oxaliplatin and Capecitabine to work and form the 5FU which is what kills the cancer!!! We also found out that this professor had heard of something called the Scot trail and had been involved in it which was a bonus, resulting in the professor saying to hubby if you was under me I would say just do the four cycles. Do as much of the Oxaliplatin IV as possible and then ensure you take the Capecitabine. When hubby had spoke to the original oncologist about the Scot trail he more or less immediately said no to it and that was it, however we have later found out that hubby’s current oncologist leads trails in liver and kidney.
Chemo is over!!! This part of the journey is over, this hurdle has been well and truly jumped. One of many things that I have learnt is…. Always do your research and go and get a second opinion!!!!!!!! Hubby should have had 6 cycles of chemo and by going to talk to someone else it was made clear that he did not need to put his body through that, 4 cycles had done the wash of the body which is what was stated at the beginning. So if there is only one thing that you take away from this is… always get a second opinion!!!
