Back into battle

Zac is readmitted into the RVI to start his round of high dose chemotherapy with stem cell transplant.  We had been warned by the doctors that this would be a gruelling few weeks and whatever side effects Zac had suffered in the first round would be much more severe this time.  They hoped that he would have sufficiently recovered by the end of February to be able to get on a plane to go to Germany.

Everyone is feeling anxious, and Zac is not overly thrilled to be heading back into the hospital.  Particularly as he spends his first evening there having various tests- obligatory covid swabs (of which there were many), separate nose, throat and groin swabs, blood tests, chest x-ray and worst of all, a fresh dressing placed over his central line.  Having a plaster changed seems so trivial in the grand scheme of things but he absolutely hated it.  It would take 2 grown adults to restrain him as he thrashed about and screamed at the top of his voice.  Not sure who dreaded these episodes the most, Zac, us, or the poor nurses.

By now we were a little more clued up on chemo and what to expect from hospital life.  The rule book had already been tossed out the window, stood on and set alight.  We had the mentality of approaching each day like we were heading into battle.  As dramatic as that sounds it did help us to stay focused on that day and not think too far ahead, just getting through each day at a time.