Depending on the type of treatment you are getting, you can either get chemo as an outpatient, or as an inpatient, where overnight hospital stays are required. When I was doing my first line of treatment, all my chemo treatments took place at an oncology center where I was an outpatient. I had chemo two days in a row and got the chance to return home at the end of each day. If you are interested in finding out how treatment works as an outpatient, please click here.
After my cancer came back , all of my treatments required me to be hospitalized. So I had the chance to experience the best of both worlds not only as an outpatient but also as an inpatient. How fun!! Obviously, being treated as an outpatient is more pleasant than staying in the hospital since being an inpatient comes with dealing the horrors of watching others suffer. I won't go into detail here simply because it has been extremely triggering . My main focus of this post will be detailing the routine and procedures that took place as an inpatient during the time of the pandemic.
Since the duration of my chemo treatment are much longer than my previous line of treatment, I didn't get infusion via the regular IV. They had to implement a port in my chest. This meant performing a small operation so that they could insert this small device underneath my skin to connect my veins for chemo infusions. I received local anaesthesia on the site of where the port will be inserted. Ideally, the operation itself is quite simple and quick. Sadly, there were some complications and they ended up making two attempts for my port to be fixated in one place. Apparently, I have a massive blood clot in the right side of my chest so they had to do everything again on the left. The only annoying painful thing is receiving the local anaesthesia. That hurt like a bitch but thankfully it only lasted for a few seconds. I am not a fan of being awake during an operation because you can hear the ongoing conversations of the surgeon and his team which isn't pleasant and ideal. My advice would be to wear headphones so that you could avoid hearing all these gory details.
Anyways, having a port is definitely way more convenient because the nurses won't spend so much time trying to find a decent vein and poking you around like a voodo doll. The veins in my right arm are now a lost and hopeless case due to all the IV poking from my previous 6 chemo rounds. On the bright side, your veins will eventually recover. They just look very hard and bruised. Another good thing about having a port is that it is also easier for blood samples to be drawn.
In a nutshell, hospital stays vary depending on which country and which hospital you are at. The hospital I am in has a designated oncology ward, consisting of 30 shared double rooms and 6 isolated rooms. Most of the time, I shared a room with another patient but I was placed in the isolation unit during my stem cell transplant. Because of Corona, I was required to do a corona test 48 hours prior being admitted to the hospital.
People have asked me what a typical day during the hospital looks like? Again, it's different for every person, hospital and country they are in. But this is how my day looked like:
Shortly before 7am, the nurses come in to run some standard check-ups. This included measuring your pulse, blood oxygen level, blood pressure, your temperature and your weight. Afterwards, breakfast gets served shortly before 8am. Around the same time, my designated doctor and his team pay me a visit to check-in on my well-being. I usually make use of this opportunity to report any symptoms/ side effects so that they can reassess and see if any medications need to be adjusted. I also asked any questions or raised any concerns that I may have. Blood samples are then drawn from my port. They are not conducted on a daily basis but every other day/ few days instead.
If there is any abnormality detected, the doctors know their stuff and will help you. For instance, my platelets were very low and I ended up getting some platelet infusions. Sometimes my blood counts were so low that I needed blood transfusions. Sometimes my Potassium levels were also quite low so I got some supplements to boost the levels back up. Those are some examples that I could come up with and I am super grateful to have an amazing medical team to look after me. I seriously have so much respect for the staff.
Lunch was served around 11:30am and I would say that lunch was my favourite meal in the hospital. Germans ate bread for breakfast and dinner so these two meals were very similar. I got so sick of bread after staying in the hospital for so long. At that point, most of my chemo infusions were done. Dinner was served at around 16:30.
During my hospital stay, I was also assigned a therapist with a specialisation in psycho-oncology. She was super sweet and supportive and even provided me with informative booklets on managing my mental and physical health. She also arranged foot massage sessions three times a week. This hospital offered yoga and music therapy sessions once a week. They are optional. On my good days, I tried to avoid staying in bed by taking a walk in the corridors. A change of scenery is important. Another cool thing about my hospital was that there is a gym bike. I tried to go on that bike for 15-20mins in order to get some physical movement from spending most of my time sitting or lying in bed.
For those of you reading this, please keep in mind that every patient finds their own way of dealing with treatments and hospital stays. I do not want to force my views nor do I want to put pressure on others to follow my way of doing things. The most important thing is to listen to your body and speak up to the medical staff whenever you are feeling off. It doesn't matter what kind of symptom you have. The earlier you report it, the earlier they will be able to intervene them.
Depsite the fact that hospital stays are depressing, I generally felt very supported by the medical staff. I felt heard and understood. They really made an effort to ensure that I was looked after. I truly hope that the hospital staff from all over the world will do the same. Having our voices heard is the best way to move forward and prevent any fatal outcomes.
Comments