Tell Laura I Love Her

“I am sorry, the test came back positive” were the words of my doctor Kathy P.J., and that’s when I realised I would have to go through it all again, but this time I will remember it.

You see, I was a victim of a tumour before when I was five months old. I don’t have any memory of it but it did happen in Austria, all the chemo, surgery and tests. It all happened and now I just have to relive it once more, or so I thought.
I started chemo on 3 August 2005. I was to stay at the Royal Marsden Hospital for 3 days and each day to receive chemotherapy. I was sick about 10 times a day and they would always run out of sick bowls. My mum and dad would always be there during a day, and mum would sleep over night. The food was yucky. I would never eat it so they would have to go out and buy me lunch that I would eat.

There was a room there called the ‘adolescent room’ which is a place where I could just chill out. It had all sorts: play station, xbox, plazma TV, internet, sofa for chilling and even a football table. I would go there in between my chemo slots and play. Also, there was a play and paint room. I always went there. I usually made a mess, so sorry cleaners.
The nurses were wonderfull. I would tell them jokes and give them lateral thinking questions to which they mostly answered wrong, hehe.

At night time I would usually fall asleep by listening to the rain drops pitters pattering on the window and hearing the nurses talk and listen to their radio. The last of the 3 days was the best, of course. It was going home time! I would say goodbye to the nurses and when I walked through the hospital doors I always had a sense of freedom, but I knew I would have to go through it 5 more times later.

It was the end of my chemo, but the beginning of my brachy therapy. I found out I would need to have it after my fourth chemo. It was to be done in Leeds so I went there before to do some tests, so they could make a mould as to where I would be receiving the brachy.

We live in London and Leeds was a 4 hour drive. When we finally got to the place where we was sleeping, it was a little cottagy thing that was used as a hotel for hospital patients and their families to stay during treatment. It was actually quite a cosy place.

I would have a general anesthetics so I wasn’t allowed to eat anything the night before. The next morning I went into theatre. About an hour later I left theatre, they had taken tests and made a mould. Now it was about recovering and getting home. To get me prepared for the brachy therapy they also needed to move my ovaries so they were out of harms way. For this they needed to make 2 slits in my stomack and one in my bellybutton in which to put camera to see what they were doing in. Although they were only little slits they hurt enormously when I got in the car and was travelling back. But, it was Halloween in a few days!

(Laura Batic, February 2006)

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