1st April
Only one nightly trip to the loo again although I still woke up in the middle of the night as the dog accidently kicked me in the face!
Woke up feeling quite sick and ended up actually being sick at 10:30. Rather unusual as I haven’t been sick in a long time …. I also have a pain in my hip which I think is from constantly sleeping on that side. I don’ really have much choice though due to my nephrostomy bag :(
By the afternoon I started to experience pain in my groin area. I can only assume that I had thrown up my daily 30mg of morphine so the pain from the tumour was more evident. I had to take some paracetamol and oramorph to calm it down. I was fine again about an hour later.
Due to my thrombosis back in November, I have to inject myself with Tinzaparin every day. My stomach is getting very sore and lumpy so have started on my thighs but that is also painful and I can only really do it on one side. Not sure what else I can do, will have to have a chat with the District Nurse or Doctor.
2nd April
Woke up feeling sick again (!). I think this is something I will just have to accept now.
The weather was slightly better today so I went for a little walk with my hubby and the dog (via the pub for his ‘play date’ with his girlfriend of course).
During the course of the day my thigh/hip really started to play me up – I assume it’s because I can only sleep on one side due to my nephrostomy bag. It got really uncomfortable when I went to bed to sleep so I tried out a Lidocaine patch (which was originally prescribed for my back), and that seemed to work a treat and stopped the pain long enough for me to dose off.
3rd April
Usual story, woke up feeling sick again L Had to be up early as had an appointment with the chemo nurse at 09:50. Had a chat about various things, in particular the sickness so I have now been changed to Ondansetron which is what I have following chemo and seems to work better than Domperidone. Had my bloods taken in prep for chemo on Friday and had a call back later to say that my white blood cell count was too low so have to go back tomorrow :(
Getting a bit behind at times with recording things so can’t quite remember what else happened….
4th April
Sickness level was higher than usual :( which didn’t help as I had to get up early again to go back for blood check.
After that it was off to the Hospice for the day. Today I made two head scarfs and had reflexology again which I really enjoy, I also had a chat with a work experience girl who wants to be a Doctor, she wasn’t quite sure what to say to me though.
The nurse at the Hospice bought up the sensitive subject of a DNAR form (Do Not Attempt Resuscitation). I had already thought along these lines and agreed that it was something that I wanted to put in place. A GP has to authorise this document so they made an appointment with my surgery to complete the paperwork later that day. Thankfully it was a locum GP that completed my form, as I think it would have been difficult for me to discuss it with one of the GPs that I worked for and knew personally. I also spoke to the locum about the pain I have been experiencing in my hip/thigh. She agreed that it was probably due to the static position I have to adopt each night when sleeping.
I also had call to say that my blood levels were better so round three of chemo is a go for Friday :)
Hubby also booked a long weekend in a log cabin for the end of April as it will be our 19th anniversary so looking forward to that :)
5th April
Woke up feeling very sick again and didn’t manage to get up until 11am! Hubby had already been into town to get some bits for an outside light he is fitting which I don’t think has been going well judging by the amount of swearing!
For the first time since Feb I made breakfast! Okay, it was only a turkey rasher roll but it’s a start. I also did some ironing (had a delayed start due to nausea again!) and painted my eyebrows back in.
As it was a lovely sunny day (the first this year?) we walked to my Fathers with the dog but didn’t stay long as he was decorating so we adjourned to the pub instead. Bailey does love his pub visits with his girlfriend Pepsi although we did discover she was two-timing him on our way out (luckily Bailey didn’t spot this).
Hubby cooked an Indian dish for tea which consisted of Paneer and was nice although I couldn’t eat all of it.
Later in the evening I had stomach cramps again which is happening quite often these days, normally before I go to the loo.
Btw, not sure if I mentioned it previously or not, hubby keeps a daily spreadsheet which records the meds I take and also a record of my temperature etc. which is handy to look back on.
6th April
It’s round 3 of chemo today and I really wasn’t looking forward to it and I was a bit down and tearful. I also felt sicker than usual and it was a struggle to get myself together when I got up in the morning.
They had the usual problem with trying to get a cannula in and it took a couple of attempts and they had to go for a smaller one in the end. Once again I was the youngest person there and was the last to leave but at least I got away earlier than last time and was done by 17:30.
I didn’t feel too bad when I got home so I had a Chinese (not had one for months and I have missed them) and a rather large JD & coke.
7th April
It was nice to wake up not feeling too sick but I had a horrible pain just under my ribs by my solar plexis. This could have been my liver moaning from the chemo and the rather large JD & coke from last night. Lesson learnt, don’t drink after chemo! It took me a while to get going but I felt better once I had eaten the lovely omelette hubby had cooked for brunch.
We met up with friends at a local hotel for a ‘games night’ (something we used to do on a regular basis when we lived in the same town many years ago). Before that I went into town and had a manicure and eye lash tint; the latter being a waste of time as they are falling out. We had a meal in the hotel but mine wasn’t that great, although I did enjoy the ice cream.
We played a few games and I completely shocked myself and stayed up until 11:30 at night. I did pay for it in the middle of the night though when I woke up feeling rather sick.
8th April
Two mornings in a row without feeling too sick, happy days! I did however have a sore throat (another new symptom!) which thankfully seemed to clear up with a couple of paracetamol. This seemed to be the first suggestion that the chemo has affected my taste buds though as I couldn’t taste the bacon on my ‘English breakfast’ in the hotel. The same happened with my tuna melt sandwich at lunchtime. I hope my taste buds reappear as I am a bit of a foodie !!!
We spent a couple of hours chilling in the hotel lounge and playing games again before heading off home. I did have to make quite a few visits to the loo due to all the drinks I downed socialising yesterday (a mix of non and alcoholic, but I was fairly sensible on the alcohol side).
I chilled for the rest of the day which was nice and didn’t have any bad symptoms.
