So, it’s now the 10th of Feb and I’m updating this after a couple of weeks off. The spa we booked was rather a disappointment, it was only £12 each which wasn’t too bad, but at 10.30 it turned into the loudest swimming pool this side of Lanzarote with screeching children, balls being thrown around and general disarray. There were a limited number of loungers with a clear sign saying not to reserve them, yet there were towels on a fair few with no bodies!! The outside hot pool was nice however there was a lady in there who clearly wanted to talk, so our relaxing morning turned into a therapy session for her! The weekend was relaxing though, Sunday we cleaned downstairs, it was good to get something solid done as we hadn’t done any proper cleaning since all of this started. Whilst out for the weekend I had a message from a friend who I hadn’t spoken to in years but had been diagnosed with breast cancer and would be having a mastectomy the following week - there seems to be so much around now..
Monday was work as usual with no great excitements, Tuesday was oxygen, last one in the tank before I was banned for 9 months due to the Vincristine. (Apparently Vincristine and hyperbaric oxygen therapy don't go well together!) Mum and dad came over to take me, I think mum was worried that this was the last time she would see me well and ok - she still has the view that the chemo is going to make me really ill, although I have talked to dad to try and get her to go back to see Jackie as this might help her.. Tuesday evening we had a settled night, we talked a bit but I felt quite calm now and just wanted to get on with it now that the decision had been made to go ahead.
Wednesday morning we got up as usual, had some toast and headed over to Christies for soon after 10. My bloods appointment wasn’t until 11 but my cancer guru, Catherine B had suggested that we go early so my bloods would be through in time for my consultants appointment at 12. We did bloods then headed over to Maggie's for a brew and watched some TV on the phone for 45 minutes. At 11.35 we wandered back over to the hospital to wait for our appointment. At 11.50 the chemo unit phoned to see if I had seen Dr T as they were ready for me, I told them I was due to see her at 12 and we would head over once done. Half 12 came and went, 1pm came and went, 1.30 came and at 1.45 the chemo unit phoned again to see if we had been seen yet. I said that Dr T was running late and we would be over as soon as we were done. At 2 I spoke with the reception who spoke with one of the nurses to find out when I would be seen and told them that the chemo unit had been on the phone to me. He was annoyed that they had phoned me and said if they call again, to tell him! At 2.15 he called me into one of the side rooms, weighed me and made a note of it and at 2.25 or so, Dr T came in.
She asked me what had changed my mind since we last saw her, I told her that I had spoken with and oncologist who is also a homeopath who listened to me and as a result of that this discussion I had changed my mind. She told me that I have to ‘embrace it and not just dip my toe in it’ which I thought was an odd thing to say. I knew she was going to ask me about what supplements I was on and had already decided to tell her that i was just on my vitamins and that I had stopped everything else. I mentioned that I was taking some remedies but that they wouldn’t interact with the chemo - she stated that they would do and what was I taking. I told her arnica for bruising, and opium for constipation and she was ok with these 2. I couldn’t remember any others and couldn’t be bothered with the hassle. At that point I decided that any other discussions regarding my supplements would be nil. I have spoken with other medical professionals who understand nutrition and have told me that PCV is good with all my supplements
At 2.45 we headed over to the Oak Road treatment centre side and spoke with the receptionist to check in, I apologised for being late and said they had been phoning me. We sat for around 10 minutes before being called upstairs to ‘Team 1’. On getting upstairs we were directed to a chair where a nurse called Mandy would be looking after us through it. We sat and went through a heap of questions before she started to try to get the canular in my hand. I suggested my right one as I know that they had managed to get drips in here easily in the past so thought we should try with that one. She struggled to raise a vein, then when she went in, I had to tell her to stop as she was pushing in, it wasn't going anywhere and was ridiculously painful. It felt like she was pushing against something solid, I told her this and she stopped. She said she thinks she might have hit a valve so took the needle out and started to look for a vein on my left hand. After 5 minutes or so of attempting to raise one she managed to get a needle in. It was really quite painful but she got it in and got a saline drip going. After 5 minutes or so of it moving she went to get the Vincristine drip.
The drip was attached and checks completed, all was fine but a bit sore as it was going through into my arm. We continued to talk as the drip went in with her conducting regular checks, the dogs being a large part of the conversation - that and the idiocy of Donald Trump and the British Governments cuts to the NHS. We talked through the further medications that I required and what to take and when to take them. As my drip finished she swapped me back onto the saline only bag to allow it to flush through fully. Around 45 minutes after it had started (the infusion is meant to take 10 minutes, slow veins and all that) the bags had run through. I buzzed for a nurse to come and take the canular out and we were done. We were told to get a good thermometer and take my temperature daily to ensure I could keep an eye on possible infections. We called back down at the reception to see about our next appointment and asked for one as early in the day as possible - at least if we have the 9am appointment she can’t be running that late by then! Clinic only starts at 9 so requested this one for when my scheduler returned to work the following day.
We called at Unicorn on the way home to get some more veg, getting back home round 6. The poor dogs had not managed to hold, and I was cursing not getting keys cut and over to Emma before today, however, it was a good impetus and made sure that we did this later in the week.
On getting home I took the second part of my chemotherapy - Lombustine which was a 4 tablet medication. There was also a third part to be taken for 10 days however there are various dietary restrictions when taking this part and dinner contained a banned food therefore I decided to start this the following day. Lel popped to Tesco to get a couple of thermometers which we tried out. According to Lel’s temperature (33.4 & 33.7) she would have hyperthermia so this proved to me how incorrect they were.
Thursday morning I felt constipated, there was a warning that Lombustine can do this but I realised that we had hardly eaten anything either during the day before so I wouldn’t have a huge amount to come out but started on my new chemotherapy tablets - Procarbazine. I was starting to feel nauseous which they also warned could be a side effect of it so I took my antiemetics which had been prescribed. I figured this could be from the constipation though so was sending Lel out to buy laxatives as well as an accurate thermometer!! Thursday night I felt a bit ill still but took an antiemetic and had some dinner with Lel. My temperature was around 36.2 which is normal for me, I have always had low blood pressure and slightly low temperature so nothing to worry about. I found that I felt really ill over my green juice today which was irritating as this is something that I know I need to keep putting into my system to keep me healthy, and that the smell of juice made me gip. Somehow I'm going to have to find a way round this. Not sure what though as yet.
As Friday happened, I remained constipated but with a good temperature and no other side effects to speak of. I had significant bruising on the back of both hands from the canulars but if that is all I can whinge about then I have got off lightly from this. The weekend was interesting, on Saturday we had a trip to see Strictly Live, courtesy of DJ which wiped me out as I did too much during the day, then Sunday we cleaned upstairs.
The following week I was still off work. I had booked for the whole of the 10 days of the Procarbazine treatment as annual leave as I want to avoid the germ factory that is work for this period when my immune system may be a little low. I have been fractionally tired in the afternoons but other than that, now the constipation has gone I’m fine.
I have read some amazing books most recently, The Cancer Whisperer by Sophie Sabbage who is going to be speaking at Maggie's in March and we have arranged to attend the evening. I’m really looking forward to it as she has been a real inspiration. In the mean time I have also linked up with people from the Brain Tumour Support Trust Facebook group and have been chatting with them, as well as linking up with a friend of Lel’s who has recently been diagnosed with cancer also. On my diagnosis I felt embarrassed and didn’t tell anyone other than direct family and people who needed to know i.e. work and close friends. I felt as though I had done something wrong and didn’t want people to know. I also didn’t want people to mither Lel with questions. I asked that she didn’t tell any of her friends pre surgery so that they leave her alone and said I was quite happy for her to tell people afterwards. She did this, bless her and as with everything else during my treatment, she has been amazing. On the day I finished radiotherapy I finally put something out on social media to explain what had been going on and had the most amazing feedback and support. It was incredible, the out pouring of support that I had from them all. From the outset of putting it on social media I wanted to offer support to other people who are going through cancer of any sort and have finally, today started to put my diary into a blog. I don’t believe that this is interesting but if it can help people who are struggling a bit with their diagnosis and what is going on then all the better.
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