On Monday, I will be starting my maintenance phase of chemo. It will last for two years, over four cycles. To be honest, the first cycle is not that different from the regular intense chemo I have been getting. I will be receiving lumbar punctures, IV chemo, and starting on many oral chemos (chemi?). There is a week with five treatments in hospital, all in a row.
Even though it will be difficult, it is still a milestone. I am grateful to be able to have reached it.
This break has been nice. I have regained my appetite and I can eat meals & snacks again. I feel a lot stronger and less nauseated. I’m not really looking forward to getting more chemo (who does?) but I am excited for all of this to be over. My current plan is to start university next year.
At first, this didn’t affect me much. Given my weakened (sometimes non-existent) immune system, the virus could do significant harm to and possibly kill me—even though I’m young and have no breathing problems. However, the flu could have done that too, so I was already wearing masks and being extremely careful to wash my hands, use hand sanitizer, not touch my face, and so on. It’s a little funny when people say “a mask won’t protect you that well, if you’re sick you should just stay at home.” It’s kind of important for me to go to my doctor’s appointments, and my n95 masks basically are my immune system. I was wearing them before there was a pandemic.
However, things started getting worse. School is now closed for at least two weeks after March break ends. Some of my doctor’s appointments have been changed to online video conferences. I still need to go to the hospital for things like bloodwork, but I’m glad they are minimizing the chances of me coming into contact with anything. Other than that, though, things are basically the same. I already stayed home, going out only for school or medical appointments.
Treatment is progressing well. Things seem to be on track, and it’s only a matter of time before I can start living a normal life again.