So its been a while since my last update. I thought I'd take you through the 2 week chemo cycle starting with the day before - a Thursday.
The day starts with an orange juice, 2 high protein weetabix with cream, sugar and milk plus vitamin tablet and 4 steroid tabs. The steroids set me up for the day so I can actually do stuff like go for a walk, make progress on Craig's painting and cook a meal. Lunch is a tab to counter any nausea although the only sickness was after half choking trying to swallow tablets. Tea time and another 4 steroids. Supper is cheese and biscuits or some fruit and cream - making the most of it while I have an appetite. Before bed is a couple of codeine to counter any episodes of the runs though that usually occurs after I come off the steroids and an Emaprazole to stop hearburn and acid reflux in the middle of the night. Then sleep is impossible!
Before I started the chemo I would get heatburn most nights so the doctors upped the Emazrapole from 2 a day to one in the morning and 2 before bed. I have reduced it to one before bed without the problem recurring. Emprazole apparently acts against the chemo and reduces its effectiveness so the fewer I need to take the better. Also, before chemo, eating was a nightmare with hiccups and pain in my eosophogus with most meals. This has stopped completely which says to me the chemo is clearing a wider opening where my eosophogus meets my stomach.
Friday is an early start. After breakfast, vitamins and steroids Lynne gets me to the hospital for 9.00. I'm an early appointment so get my pick of chairs - I'm told the grey loungers are the most comfortable and today I've bagged the one by the window. After changing my dressing and cleaning out my PICC Line and cleaning the dried blood from where the line goes into my arm the first of 4 drugs is connected to the drip feed (see photo). This lasts a little over an hour. The machine doing the controlling beeps at various stages to call for attention from the nurses. Then around 11 the bag is swapped and another added so I have 2 drugs going in over 2 hours. At some stage I usually get a visit from the dietician to check on me. I've lost a couple of kg so they are giving me some supplement samples which, If I like (or tolerate) they can get my doctor to prescribe. Once both bags have emptied into me - the PICC Line goes up my arm, across my chest and into my heart. - its time for the 4th drug. This comes in a bag in a bottle that sits in a container with a belt strapped around my waist and takes 24 hours to empty. Its easier to manage than you might imagine. With that fitted and fresh supplies of drugs, needles, dressings gloves and a new sharp box I can head home. One of the immediate effects of chemo is neuropathy meaning nerve endings at extremities are temporarity damaged. The weird effect is tingling in the fingers touching anything coming out of the fridge or freezer or hanging washing out and the like. Last session was a cold but bright day so decided to sit on a bench outside to wait for Lynne to pick me up. Just before she arrived I felt the backs of my legs tingling - most odd. Home and relax then make the most of the steroid enhanced appetite.
Saturday is another day of 8 steroids - dexamethsone, the very same that is being used to save lives of covid hospitalised patients. Plenty of energy so can get things done. District Nurse calls in the afternoon once the chemo bag has emptied to disconnect me and tape all the tubes up ready for next time. Sunday starts 7 days of injecting my tummy with Nivestin - this helps build white blood cells as the chemo wrecks my immunity
Sunday and Monday the steroids are reduced to 2 a day so I'm starting to come down and feeling weaker and less steady on my feet. I have one tablet per day to keep sickness at bay but 2 codeine doesn't hack it when I start to earn my frequent visitor to the bathroom stickers so I need to up the dose to 2 every 4 or 5 hours until under control again. This may take 4 or 5 days during which time I'm not up for doing much and my appetite dips. It will be Monday or Tuesday the following week when I start to improve, the Wednesday is not too bad then Thursday is steroids and the cycle starts again.
On Wednesday there's a visit from the nurse to take blood samples. These, along with all the blood samples taken at Babington are courriered to Derby Royal for analysis. On Thursday I get a call from an encology doctor to confirm my blood samples are fine and they can proceed with the next session as planned. She also checks up on my side effects. Also on Wednesday, after having a needle in my arm to extract stuff I go down to Babington to have a needle in my arm to put stuff in - Pfizer's covid vaccine second dose. Five weeks after the first. Apparently, according to early research only 45% of those undergoing chemo will be protected if having their second dose 5 weeks after the first. This reduces to 30% if after 12 weeks but is 95% afer 3 weeks. I missed the boat on that but the hospital are going to do an antibody test in due course to determine if I am one of the lucky 45%. Or not.
The second cycle was marginally worse than the first so I expect the susequent cycles to be marginally worse again. Lynne is doing a great job of looking after me despite my sometimes moodiness and flashes of temper! She deserves a holiday so I do hope she can get one soon and my treatment doesn't delay anything.
What else has happened lately? Richard an Tom have been to repair the pergola - one corner post plus two timbers ar right angles meeting at sai post had rotted so it was a tricky operation to replace as required without the whole lot collapsing. Thanks guys. I've also sorted out with Markus for 4m of dead hedge to be replaced with fence panels and the bottom gate repaired. We also have a tornado of a gardener coming in to tidy up and get all the jobs done that I'm not capable of at the moment.
Just taken my woolley hat off and noticed it full of little hairs. Growing at the same time as falling out. But you wouldn't notice.
I'll update everyone again once I get the last chemo session out of the way.
