Worst Hospital Experience Thread

[whitney]

Well that looks pretty unpleasent. Looks like you finished treatment in early 2003, so I guess that makes you 5+ years without relapse? Congrats!

Did you know they now give a monoclonal antibody (Rituximab) for Burkitt's, and other types of non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma? It specifically attaches to the cancer cells and fucks them up. Pretty cool to see that the treatement has moved on in just a few years.

I have just finished chemo for Hodgkin's Lymphoma and have a scan in a week or so to see if it worked. I never had a port though, fortunately I don't mind injections anymore, plus I have good veins so the nurses usually get it in first time.

Worst experience thus far is probably a bone marrow biopsy: you lie on your side and someone sticks a thick needle in your pelvis and sucks out your bone marrow. I foolishly refused the sedative offered so I could go out for a drink later that day. I felt a definate sucking sensation in my left leg/hip, however that was probably just the doctor drilling into the bone. Despite the doc telling me "there are no nerve endings in the bone" I still screamed like a bitch for the whole procedure. Fortunately tests on the marrow extracted showed that it was cancer free!

Actually I do know about it but thanks! I read about it and when I asked my doctor he said its a treatment they now use with chemo to lessen the chances of relapse?

I've had a bone biopsy but it was done before chemo. I feel like they could've skipped that procedure and went straight to surgery since that thing was pushing up against my scapula making a bump that's definitely not normal. They had to cut a piece of the mass anyways cos they couldn't be 100% sure what it was from the biopsy (I read the report). I cannot imagine a bone marrow one w/o sedatives cos the one I had left me in tears.

I'm glad you're finished and are doing well now! What stage was yours if you don't mind me asking? Hodgkin's can be tough.

[Lloyd]

Not at all, IIA bulky. By the time it was diagnosed I had a large swelling on my kneck, lumps near clavicle and large-ish mass in chest. Most of it went pretty fast when I started chemo, which was good 'cos I couldn't open my jaw!

I've always thought what they give for NHLs (CHOP plus extras I guess for you) is more hardcore than what I get (or rather got), which is ABVD. The NHL guys down the hospital tend to look pretty rough, whereas I actually look the picture of health, despite having just finished 8 months of chemo. Haven't even lost my hair.

Was gutted after 6 months cos there was still a little bit left and I had to have 2 months more chemo, followed by a re-scan and radio if the results of that are good (ie it's got even smaller or gone). Otherwise (although this is unlikely), they might do salvage therapy which means ESHAP+autologous stem cell transplant.

How did you find recovery post chemo? I'm looking forward to getting buff and going back to work, but I'm not sure how long it will take me to get back to normal.

[soap]

I have a decent one....

I was diagnosed with IFB when I was in grade 10 and I was really sick...basically I couldn't eat anything at all without throwing up. So I went to the hospital after being sick for about three months and I was around 85 lbs (and 5'10''). They threw me in a room right away and I was there in total for around 5 1/2 weeks.

So they run this barium x-ray test, which is where you basically drink this shiat that tastes like chalk with a bit of water added to it and then they run these x-rays. So after that they give you these fizz tablets to gas up your stomach and they do more x-rays. Anyways, that night the doctor ordered a colonoscopy for the next day, so they had to pump me full of laxatives but they didn't have much time, so they stuck this GIANT tube up my nose and filled me up with a 6 liters of that horrible tasting fruit punch laxative shit (and the tube is supposed to get rid of the taste since I wasn;t drinking it, but i was burping and vomiting it up half the time). This tube was one of the most uncomfortable things ever...it actually filled up my entire nostril. Sure enough, my stomach is so backed up that I am not shitting, and it started reacting in my stomach with the fizz pills and barium and I start vomiting out ridiculous amounts of what looked and tasted like clear fruit punch jell-o.

Eventually, after that was out of my system, they started the whole process over again and I was up shitting out barium for 5 hours all through the night.

Then, after the colonoscopy...they decide I need to go on bowel rest for minimum three weeks. I was going to be eating through my IV, I wasn't allowed to eat anything at all for that time. They give me this midline, which is an iv that goes in your elbow joint, so my arm wouldn't hurt when they pumped in medicine/food. They didn't tell me the needle was fucking massive, and they stuck it in and blood was shooting out all over the place. Then, while the woman was threading the catheter up my arm (to my shoulder), she realized that my vein was too twisty and had to abort and do the other arm...what a dumb bitch. Then I didn't eat anything for about 4 weeks...although all that depravity made that first whopper I ate taste so fucking sweet.

[whitney]

Not at all, IIA bulky. By the time it was diagnosed I had a large swelling on my kneck, lumps near clavicle and large-ish mass in chest. Most of it went pretty fast when I started chemo, which was good 'cos I couldn't open my jaw!

I've always thought what they give for NHLs (CHOP plus extras I guess for you) is more hardcore than what I get (or rather got), which is ABVD. The NHL guys down the hospital tend to look pretty rough, whereas I actually look the picture of health, despite having just finished 8 months of chemo. Haven't even lost my hair.

Was gutted after 6 months cos there was still a little bit left and I had to have 2 months more chemo, followed by a re-scan and radio if the results of that are good (ie it's got even smaller or gone). Otherwise (although this is unlikely), they might do salvage therapy which means ESHAP+autologous stem cell transplant.

How did you find recovery post chemo? I'm looking forward to getting buff and going back to work, but I'm not sure how long it will take me to get back to normal.

yah, if you haven't lost your hair then its definitely more of a breeze and i would think recovery time would be a lot easier for you

for me i took about two years to get back my energy pre-chemo -_______-" but that is also because i didn't rest at home like the doctors recommended and i didn't take it as seriously (then) as i should have.