The last round of chemo or "Are we there yet?"

 

That´s it. We´re done.

We had our good times, but to be honest most of them were really shitty. And I appreciate that you
did your best so I wouldn´t miss you at all. The last days you gave me extra nausea and coma states. Even though we completely left out Vincristin I have numb fingers. Just thinking about Cyclophosphamid makes me wanna throw up. Ohh, and those horrible flesh-colored Etoposid pills I almost choked on (I only could take them with truly epic music as support so I put on the "Ride of the Valkyries")!
So farewell, CHOEP, rest in hell where you belong, together with my demon.

But still...

You were predictable. I knew how I would feel and usually also when. I kinda liked the oncology office and being at home afterwards. You were simple, just a few infusions that dribble, dribble, dribble into my body. And you just tried to kill my demon and not me. That´s kinda cute. (Even though you didn´t always aim that good now, did you? ;) Or how my doctor would say "Schaade...!")

And now...?

MRT someday in May to see if you actually did anything useful in my body (called restaging). For sure you did, or I wouldn´t have felt so bad, right? Just gimme a big, fat "complete remission" and we can stay friends (okay, I can also live with a "partial remission" don´t want to be too demanding).

So are we there yet?

Nope. Life after CHOEP: Getting check-ups at various doctors to make sure my body is ready for the next steps (dentist, otolaryngologist, gynecologist, cardiologist). In two weeks time at least two days in hospital for DHAP, my new 24 hour high dose chemo. That´s actually not targeting the cancer but is supposed to stimulate my stem cell production so they will accumulate in my blood. And we can harvest them and freeze them for the last level of stairs waiting for me. Will be getting Neulasta also over a longer period of days for this purpose. But don´t worry, they are higher concentrated so the pain will surely be *mumble mumble*. Erm, wait, come again?
Fingers crossed until they break and hope that my veines are good enough for the stem cell harvest after DHAP and that we can do the harvest ambulatory (alternative: central venous catheter and in hospital, bleh!).
For harvesting the stem cells my blood will be pumped out of my body, the stem cells will be extracted through a centrifuge and then my blood will be pumped into my body again. And we will do this until my whole blood volume has been exchanged four to five times. That´s a whole lotta hours watching your blood circulate outside your body! If I´m lucky I´ll only need one harvest (I totally rocked "Harvest Moon" so I´m absolutely positive that one will be enough!).

And then...? Surely we´ll be there then!?

Nope. Cause then we bring out the big guns.

BEAM!