Day 1 Cycle 1 Chemotherapy - 21 Apr 2025

Day 1 - Chemotherapy at Icon Cancer Centre @ Mt Elzabeth Hospital, Orchard

Wifey and I made our way to Mt Elizabeth for my first chemotherapy cycle.  With a lot of anxiety and apprehension, we saw Dr Chan and discussed the treatment and potential side effects.  He also advise me to lay off any TCM remedies until the 2nd chemo cycle so that he can eliminate the causes and/or triggers of any side effects that may be clouded between the western and traditional medicines.  

I was at the chemo area and the nurse took my blood for a reference blood test (before chemo starts).  After that, it was on the chair and took a dose of steroids (Dexamethasone) before the chemo IV started.  Dr Chan prescribed two cancer inhibiting drugs - Alimta and Carboplatin, which were intravenously fed into my hand one after another.  

The whole process took about 3 hours and we were off and back home by early afternoon.  After that, it was lots of rest and waiting with bated breath for some side effects to take place.  My fellow cancer suffers told me that the worst is yet to come as the side effects usually surfaced from Days 3-10.  

Dinner was per normal and I went to bed at my usual 11pm+.  I was woken up with a series of strange hiccups which did not stop. I was unable to sleep due to the hiccups and came downstairs to my PC to google for a resolution to this strange side effect.  Apparently, it was not uncommon with patients under chemo. All the remedies online were mainly for normal hiccups and didn't seem to solve my problem.

Until I found a site written by a doctor who suffered from lymphoma in the US.  I followed his instructions "HOLDING MY BREATH WHILE SLOWLY SIPPING AND SWALLOWING SMALL AMOUNT OF LIQUID AT A TIME IN SUCCESSION TO AS LONG AS I CAN,  TO THE POINT OF EXPERIENCING A DROWNING SENSATION,  THEN STOP SIPPING AND TAKE A DEEP BREATH AND BLOW.  THE RELIEF IS IMMEDIATE."  It worked!  I'm not sure if he's still alive or not, since his article was dated in 2013.  But what matters is that his technique worked for me and it alleviated the hiccups.

However, the hiccups returned after an hour and I had to employ what I now refer to as Dr Francisco Tang's "drowning technique" to stop my hiccups.  I managed to get some sleep after that, and I was glad that I managed to find a remedy to this problem - albeit temporary relief as the hiccups came back again and again.  






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