Today is teh one year mark since chemo ended! hard to believe that it has been a full year but the calendar does not lie!
I can still remember the first fight of chemotherapy very clearly. I was sent to day hospital for my 2 day chemo treatment. We were unsure if i was going to have much chemotherapy, so i did not have a PICC Line inserted yet. My chemo was administered through an IV in my hand, and it was not comfortable at all. I was feeling ok when the chemo drip was over, so they sent me home for the night to rest before my chemo the next day. at around 9:00pm that night i started to feel very sick. It all happened so fast after that point. My parents soon rushed me back to sick kids, with a barf bucket on my lap the entire way. The next part was a bit of a grey area for me. I don’t remember how i got from the car into a bed at sick kids, but my dad said that i actually walked. after that point i was laying in bed throwing up till about 3 in the morning. Throwing up for hours is unpleasant as it is but having to deal with the tracheotomy was a whole different ball park.
After that first day of chemo we got things under control and i never experienced a chemo day like that again. My doctors and nurses at sick kids were absolutely amazing and i cant thank them enough for all their hard work! especially my nurse that took care of me the night i was very sick! she always went above and beyond to make me comfortable.
Today i was at Sick Kids for an orientation day to volunteer for the month of June. It was the strangest feeling being at Sick Kids for a different reason, especially looking across the hallway and seeing the areas i used to be a patient. i feel so incredibly lucky to be where i am today. I could not be more excited to give back to the community that saved me. I would love to give the children at sick kids the same thing the staff gave me when i was a patient, and thats hope. It wasnt easy being at Sick Kids today but i know it will get easier as time goes on.
