#Brachytherapy Round Two:
I have to be perfectly honest, it’s taken me over a week to be able to have the strength to update you all on how this went. This procedure was the hardest thing I’ve ever done and been through.
It all started as soon as I checked into the London hospital. When I checked in, I had to get my blood work done, and complete registration papers. The nurse came back about 30 mins later, hooked up my IV and got me ready for what I wasn’t ready to hear. She went on to explain that my #hemoglobin (white blood cells) was low and wouldn’t be able to do my procedure until they came up, the only way to do that was a blood transfusion 😭 I was terrified I’ll admit. So for the first 1.5 hours, I was pumped with blood. It made me have the worst headache ever. I then was asked to take two potassium pills and had magnesium hooked up to my IV, as both were low as well. The nurse after that hour came back and was concerned about my heart, as it was racing and wouldn’t go down. So I was hooked up to saline to get myself hydrated so hopefully that would come down. I was also in a room with another women, who was crying the whole time, literally had been medicated every 15 mins. The dr came in and even offered her fentanyl 😳😳 needless to say it a long asssssss first night.
At 4:45 a man was screaming in the hallway that he was gonna beat up the staff and wanted a phone call home 😳 security was called. 15 minutes later the nurse came in to take my blood again to see how it was doing. He came back 30 mins later, my hemoglobin was still too low, and guess what. I needed another damn transfusion 😭😭 So again I was hooked up for 1.5 hours of blood. Finally I was unhooked, and ready to get my procedure. This time i wasn’t as scared, but still was quite #emotional from a rough night.
When I got to the brachytherapy room, I met with a new dr, and anesthesiologist. They told me, that one of the internal radiation treatments would be done this time while I was asleep. They got me setup and was immediately put out. When I woke up, I was again super out of it, and dizzy. The nurse this time handed me two pills, not even sure what they were, but because I was out of it I swallowed them. Big mistake on my part…. 😖 I ended up soooooo fucked up, beyond out of it. I had a ct scan done once they took me out of the recovery ward. After the ct scan I was rolled back to my room.
Once I got to my room, I remember just crying and crying because I was so messed up from the medication. The staff of the hospital brought me a lunch, that I couldn’t even eat because I’m lactose intolerant since the radiation treatments started. ( which was in my paperwork ) so I had to stick to water and ice because they didn’t have anything to replace it with…. 😖🤦🏼♀️
At about 3:00pm, I ended up calling my mom and dad, which I don’t even remember speaking to them. They told me after about it, they were even scared because I didn’t sound like myself at all. I was crying, begging them to come and get my that night.
At 5:00pm, still completely out of it, the nurse came in to give me the half shot of morphine for my final brachytherapy treatment. I went down and had the final internal radiation, and then the removal. The first removal went well, so I thought nothing of the second one. Boy was I wrong. It was soooooooo painful, I cried the whole time and literally yelled holy fuck balls at the nurse. Which in turn, made all the nurses laugh so hard. She wasn’t expecting that! 🤦🏼♀️✨
After the procedure, I was rolled upstairs, where I tried my hardest to get back to myself. I was extremely dizzy, and still super nauseous feeling from all the medicine that was in my system. My parents ended up showing up, which I was confused how they even know to come to the hospital ( not knowing I called them earlier ) I cried soooo hard seeing them. I ended up telling the nurse to issue my discharge papers, which she did. I don’t even know if I was aloud to leave, but I was leaving regardless. The second I was getting ready to leave, I started to throw up in the garbage in my room. I quickly got my parents to get a wheelchair for me so the nurse didn’t see me sick and make me stay, I yelled get me the fuck outta here 🤦🏼♀️🤣
Got to the elevator, and I threw up all over it! 🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️ Headed out the front door, and literally threw up the whole ride home which was an 1.5 hour drive. Got home and still threw up for most of the night. 🤷🏼♀️ needless for say, it wasn’t a great day!
The next day, I literally was in sooooo much pain. It felt like I had falling out a window and then been hit by a truck. I wasn’t able to get out of bed for literally a week. It was soooo painful.
Now comes the healing. It will take a minimum of 4 weeks up to 3 months to be fully healed. One of the requirements since the brachytherapy treatments is that I have to use a dialator 3x a week, or my uterus can weld itself shut, cause scar tissue. Which when I go for the Pap smear checkups will hurt a lot if I don’t stay on top of it. I can tell you from personal experience, getting cancer, going through the treatments and healing is soooo difficult. I wouldn’t wish any of this on anyone. From my experiences, please ladies, get your annual pap and stay on top of it. Don’t put yourself in the shadows and think things won’t happen to you. They do, and can happen at anytime. 🙏🏻❤️ Pap smears may be uncomfortable, but ladies they take 5 mins and can save you from going through a lot of additional pain and hardship. I will be monitored now for the next 5 years, and am unable to attend work. 😖 I have the worst anxiety, consistently thinking will this come back, did we miss anything, will I have to do this again? Those thoughts don’t go away! So please, please, please schedule your pap and get em done 🙏