Round 1... FIGHT! *best tekken voice*

-Originally written in 2013-

Day 1 of chemo was all set to go on the 4th of February. I had prepared the day before in a way I encourage anyone beginning chemo to do, I ate! I had my favourite foods. I started off with bacon, scrambled eggs and toast covered in tomato sauce. I then had a big roast chicken with all the trimmings and followed that with rhubarb crumble and ice cream. Then I stuffed myself with as much sweets, crisps and chocolate as I could while watching a movie with my boyfriend. It was a wonderfully tasty and relaxed day.

The next day I was picked up by my mum and dad and my boyfriend took the day off work to hold my hand. I was lucky that I got a choice to be in a lovely, well funded cancer specialist hospital called The Beatson all at no cost thanks to my country's NHS. The waft of anti-bac was in the air mixed with an unfamiliar smell. I was swiftly taken to my room, everything was so clean and contemporary. I had my own bathroom, tv and wardrobe. There was even free wifi!

I waited on a nurse coming to see me for what felt like forever. We all waited with forced conversation while watching Scrubs, I found this quite hilarious. Finally the nurse came! It was time for the cannula to go in and go in it did not. I was always fine getting a cannula in for scans and for blood being taken but not today no. It was as if my body knew and hid all my veins in a hope to runaway from the poison. After several pokes and a no show of veins the sweet young nurse went and got another nurse with promises that she gets a vein evey time, nuh uh. Just more fruitless stabs. I was then ordered to steep my hands in hot water in attempt to fool my veins into surfacing. In came the nurse again for a third go, this time I had my aunt and uncle (who was also there for treatment) also in the room. I remember owwing while my eyes filled up with tears. The nurse made a desperate attempt at the side of my wrist and instead poked a nerve causing a lot of pain. Time for plan B, I had to get a PICC line inserted into my arm. The team that did it weren't available that day so after getting myself all pumped up to jump this first hurdle I was sent home. I got Burger King meal on the drive home so it wasn't all bad. I remember being sat in the back of my dads car holding my boyfriends hand so tight, I felt like one of those balls made from elastic bands, each band another reason for me to cry but I didn't.

The following day I got a phone call, PICC line a go-go! Soon as we were ready we were off to the Beatson and even managed to pick my boyfriend up along the way since he got the time off work. I was very anxious about the PICC going in but really there wasn't anything bad about it. I waited a bit then got taken into a nice little room by a lady who turned out to be Biffy Clyro's cousin (I know right, cooool, she told me stories about when they were young.) there was also nice lady singing along with a CD of movie ballads and a student. I got one of those beautiful blue surgical sheets over me then a tourniquet was put at the top of my arm so tight I thought it was gonna take my arm off, an ultrasound of the veins and arteries in my arm (which I highly appreciated being able to see because I am a freak), lil bit of local anaesthetic, wee cut, feeling of a rusty wire going all the way up your arm and into your chest... ok, that was the one and only bad bit (unless blood freaks you out) but it's over in a matter of seconds and TADA it was all done. After that I went for a chest x-ray to make the the PICC line was actually in the superior vena cava and not my jugular. All was fine so now it was time to go ahead with the chemo.

 ABVD (Adriamycin, Bleomycin, Vinblastin and Dacarbazine.)  A, a big bright red syringe that's given along with fast flowing saline, my friend Vanessa called this "The Red Devil" as it's the nasty bugger that's makes your hair fall out and basically any other bad side effect happen. B, a nice big fat needle into your muscle, I always went for the bum cause *wink*, no, because it's much less painful than my skinny arm. It's to blame for potential lung damage later on. V, a small bag of fast flowing liquid that's looks and seems harmless but this caused me to have nerve damage in my fingers and toes, I couldn't wear heels, I learnt this the hard way when I fell down stairs in a wig shop. Finally D, dacarbazine is a big black bag that is sent from the depths of hell... I lied, It's just a nasty long drip that can take hours to finish because of it's ability to cause extravasation, which is burning around the entry area and damages the veins and on top of that it's the one that causes the worst nausea imaginable. It went smoothly first time, I had my boyfriend there to hold my hand while my parents where away for a walk, likely away while their minds blown with emotion. I had a nurse, well a few but one beautifully kind lady I remember being by my side throughout the whole thing. Her name escapes me but I will make it a mission of mine to go back and thank her one day. For the next six months I lived in two week cycles, one good week where I actually liked waking up and one bad week where I felt like a zombie stuck in quick sand, that was my life.