My brother started his first course of chemo on Monday, he was very nervous at first but the staff at Westmead Hospital - Cancer Care Centre were marvelous and put him at ease. A friend of his is going to drop in on Saturday to check on him and see he has plenty of food and will mow the lawn if needed as Bruce has been banned from gardening to guard against risk of infections.

Yesterday I went into Westmead Hospital -Day Care Cancer Clinic - with my brother to view a film on chemotheraphy and a information session.

I was very impressed by the amount of info they gave us as well as the layout of the chemo injection suites - open plan - so no-one was left unattended or isolated from other fellow chemo patients with room for their support family/friend to be with them.

My brother had to have a blood test to see if his white blood cells were healthy enough to combat an infections that may arise from the chemo attacking the cancer cells and any other fast growing cells. He would have to monitor his temperature and any rise above normal would see him going directly to hospital. If the blood test is ok he will start chemo next Monday.

--- I needed to type this in two parts as my brain is trying to look at this situation in a positive way and at the same time looking at it in a practical? way. ---

During our chat while walking to the hospital from the car, Bruce informed me the doctor had told him on his last visit that he was dying, that he may have a couple of months to live, that there will be no more surgery or radiotherapy, that the last resort would be chemotherapy, he had a choice whether to go ahead or not.

Obviously, Bruce had decided to go ahead -- whether there will be any change/improvement there is no guarantee. I could only point out the option of quality or quantity of life to him.

Personally I would rather he made the most of his time left doing all the things he enjoys rather than spending umpteen hours sitting in a hospital with toxic chemicals flowing through his veins.

My brother's cancer has returned. After numerous operations and radiotherapy treatments the doctor has said no more operations, they are going to try chemo as a last resort. He has updated his Will and rang myself and my three sisters to give us the news.

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