Day -7 To Day -4

So, I arrived in Glasgow safely and I am officially in hospital to begin my transplant treatment! At last! I know that it will be a long uphill slog from here, but I am just glad that this part of my treatment has started - this is the beginning of the end; the beginning of getting better.

Firstly I will explain why I have used minus signs in my title. When you are undergoing a stem cell transplant, day 0 is officially the day of the transplant itself. Previous to this, every day is simply a countdown to 0 - during this time I have already undergone some chemotherapy, and the radiotherapy begins tomorrow. After day 0, the days go upwards in a normal pattern, and the hope is that by day 28 I will be released from hospital, and by day 100 I will almost be back to normal (fingers crossed; touch wood).

Day -7 was my admission day. We had a lovely lunch at a hotel before coming into hospital, I had a Chicken Tikka Masala  - and I can promise that my last taste of pre NHS food was amazing! When we arrived at the hospital everyone seemed to be expecting me (which was promising), and we soon had confirmation from the doctors that everything would be going ahead. We still didn't unpack till the next day though, as I think we were all still a bit paranoid that they would throw us out again. Throughout the day I had an ECG as well as a Chest X-Ray, blood tests and some swabs taken for MRSA. Apparently you should have swabs taken to check you for MRSA before any hospital admission, but this was a first for me. I also got started on a lot of new drugs etc, but have not had any bad reactions yet.The most important part of the day was running through my protocol, which is basically a mini plan of what will happen throughout my hospital stay and some important dates for afterwards. I originally had a few worries about some of the drugs they would be using, but everything was clarified, and I am just happy now that we can get on with it all. I also had the opportunity to have a look around the Teenage Cancer Trust unit of the hospital - an absolutely amazing place with gaming area, TV, pool table, jukebox, kitchen area, guitars and keyboard. They also run breakfast clubs, craft activities and pizza nights. Unfortunately I won't be able to spend much time here as I will be in isolation most of the time, but I'm hoping they might sneak me in a croissant every now and then!

Day -6 was the beginning of my pre-transplant conditioning (Yes, it was Friday 13th, but what can you do...) Luckily, despite the superstition, it went fairly well. The day began with a visit from the physio, so that she could check over my general health and muscle mass. We did a 6 minute test, which was basically me just walking around in circles for 6 minutes as fast as I could, which may not sound amazing, but trust me, when you are in hospital anything is fun. Then began the chemo! The chemo only ran for 30 minutes, but I had to remain on fluids for 24 hours afterwards. I've had this type of chemo before and it makes you feel like you are underwater - the horrible feeling you get when you jump into the deep end of a swimming pool and chlorine goes up your nose. Not pleasant, but a necessary evil I guess. I got a nice surprise though in a the form of a reflexology massage. There is a charity run from the hospital called the Friends of the Beatson and they have therapists that can pop in to see you - so a good foot rub definitely put me in a better mood.

The chemo continued into day -5. Again the chemo only lasted 30 minutes but I could not be unhooked from the fluids at all, so I could not get a shower. The fluids also meant I was pretty much up all night going to the loo - I found out this morning that overall I peed out about 9 litres of water in a day - which I think is fairly impressive for anyone to be honest. Unfortunately, the chemo hit me a bit harder on the second day and I got a fairly bad headache, but with a wee bit of dy-hydrocodiene I was back in action again.

So, today is day -4 and it is my rest day! Yay! I wasn't unhooked from my fluids until about midday, but the shower that followed this was absolutely amazing. I've had to start using special shower gel and moisturiser to prepare my skin for the radiotherapy, which is rather thick, but soaks into the skin nicely. I've had a lovely afternoon so far, as I popped in for a refreshing coke over at Friends of the Beatson and I am just about to play a game of pool with mum in the Teenage Cancer Trust unit - so, all in all, it could be worse.

The dreaded radiotherapy begins tomorrow though; wish me luck!

Laura xo