Week 4 - Day 1 Monday - Chemotherapy 'Spa Day'
After my worst weekend so far, I started to feel a little better on the Monday morning. I have now nicknamed my Chemotherapy days my 'Spa Days!' The Radiotherapy will be the 'Sunbed' session... pretty strong rays mind! Over the weekend I found eating and drinking really difficult because of the radiation damage to my oesophagus and it was quite scary how quickly i became weakened and lacking in energy. I have no blender and not a lot of space to keep one so my daughter told me about one her friend bought. Compact, can crush ice, blend and has a separate mini food processor section too. Perfect for one and not too expensive either! An Amazon search located the one and it should be here very soon. Ice pops are coming into their own at the moment and I manage to pack some into a flask to have throughout the 'Spa Day'. The 'magic medicine' the Oncologist prescribed was collected by Mark and he brought it to me so I could have it today if I needed it.
Other than the drop in energy and feeling generally weak, i had very few other symptoms this week apart from the usual constipation. That improved as the week progressed so nothing much to report. another minor weight loss recorded, total of just over 2KG since week one but I do have plenty of weight spare! Cannulation was a bit easier today (if I recall correctly as i am writing this retrospectively) Blood pressure still up a little but i have a review with GP this to discuss it. I have all readings listed and patterns are becoming apparent for different days which seems to be affected by the different drugs and days. By the weekend, I can get a near 'normal' reading so no real worry I don't think.
I have a guy sitting opposite me who is having immunotherapy so we chat a little about his experiences. He is ex forces and hates needles!! He is bit of a character and a wicked sense of fun and humour. His treatment appointment book is 2 or 3 pages full whereas mine only has 4 entries! His is every 2 weeks for around 2 years but it is different to the one I hope to go on to.
The remainder of the day went smoothly and I even seemed to finish a bit earlier than usual although by the time the nurses got me unhooked etc that was eaten up a little. It was nice to get across to Radiotherapy that few minutes early and I was home by around 4pm.
Felt OK enough to sit out on the towpath for a chat later until around 9pm.. weather is still good but need to take care, even in the late evening to keep out of the sun rays.
Week 4 - Day 2 Radiotherapy day.
Early start, 8.45am appointment and although it does mean getting up early, at least i can come back home and relax and do as I please. Trouble with Tuesday's and Wednesday's though is... Steroids! My mind goes 100 to the dozen! While i can physically relax, i just can't stop my mind doing overtime. I am a chatterbox at the best of times and i know i sometimes drive Mark mad these days but i just can't help myself. He has said he is happy to suffer it as the alternatives that we thought we would have been facing would have been much worse than a jabbering old fool nattering lol. I am pleased he reminds me though. Today though, I become quite cognitively challenged! We were discussing insurance and I was explaining something where i thought i had said 2027 but i actually said 1967!...i was blissfully unaware until Mark pointed it out! Next, we had a short trip to a local village for some paint for his boat... we took a wrong turn and get confused where we would end up.... i got all my road numbers wrong causing even more confusion hee hee... the final straw cam when i took a call from Kettering hospital inviting me for a blood test there. I asked if I could have the form sent to the marina... so tried to spell out the address.... Y-E-L..... ???? I couldn't get passed 'L' to spell Yelvertoft!! I have only lived there about 10 years!! Bizarre!!
Week 4 - Day 3 Radiotherapy day.
Another 8.45am appointment and wakeful night but i am getting used to these and tend to find things to do in the middle of the night. I have to date done my click and collect orders, applied for my Blue Disabled Badge and loads of research into immunotherapy etc. Keeps the mind fresh i suppose! Gp Call today when we discussed my blood pressure, an average of 148/82 is borderline so she said it was fine so no meds needed Fab! I asked her about my Tramadol prescription and she said she would sort it and send it to the pharmacy for me to collect today. I decided it could wait until tomorrow.
Week 4 - Day 4 Radiotherapy day.
10:30am session today and it is always busy around this time so had to wait a while. Car parking spaces are at a premium around this time too. I think Mark had to drive down to Morrison's in the end but did find a little shade from the hot sun at least. At long last, i could al;so collect my Tramadol prescription, or so i thought.....when i went to collect it... stupid doctor hadn't included the dosage!!!! The Pharmacist had to return it to the surgery and apologised, she promised to text me when it came in, hopefully tomorrow.
Week 4 - Day 5 Radiotherapy day.
10:30am session again today followed by blood tests. I had got the text from the pharmacist to say my Tramadol was prescription was in so dropped in to pick it up... finally!!!
Got my Oncologists appointment by phone later and he is really pleased with my progress still and asked how my oesophagus was now with the medicine. I told him i felt much better with it so he prescribed more. He also confirmed my CT scan date for 18th August and review on 19th for Immunotherapy. I just need to wait for the letters, the scan will be in Kettering.
The weekend passed with only a few shaky moments, long sleeps but wakeful or broken nights. At least the constipation isn't so bad at the weekends.
Two more 'Spa Days' to go!! :)
