Blogging can be a great way to journal your experiences and share with others. Why not create your own cancer journey blog, or have a read of other blogs created by our members?
Unsure how to get started? Take a look at our help pages on blogs.
On 6 March, had my scan and 2nd pre RT planning meeting at UCLH. A 10.30 appointment, and I was seen within 10 minutes. A young lady nursing assistant asked me if I’d done my ‘bowel prep’. I hadn’t but had a couple of micro enemas to hand. Ten minutes later, I was good to go and then went, emptying my rectum. Having tidied me up, the next stage was having my photo taken, presumably so I could be identified easily. Curiously, no one wanted to look at my carefully recorded notes on my home practice...
It seems I forgot to update the blog yesterday or the day before, but I'm here now.
Mum has arrived (day 7) and so she accompanied me to my appointments. At the Tuesday clinic, my consultant altered when he was seeing me - originally planned for Thursday and my husband was going to come with me, but the consultant altered this and instead hijacked the clinic meeting on Tuesday. I felt initially annoyed, but this soon subsided, because I had already created my questions for him.
So, the treatment...
So the tootie fruity turned sweetcorn smell has gone. Petes appetite still been really good & in general he's not been to bad all day. He had some chest tightness which were checked by various Dr's & ecg's but no cause for concern until his temperature started going up & down. At this point they put him on iv anti-biotics. His neutrophil count has dropped from 2.8 the last 2 days to 0.6 so they expect he will become neutropenic over night. Guess this is where the real battle...
So at 11.30 Pete was given iv paracetamol & anti-histamines. Job done, he was prepped & ready 2 go, with what I can only describe as r2d2 sitting outside his door. At 12 they came & gave him 2 bags Of cells, each taking about 5 mins & that was it. So simple. No more being allowed out of his room.
Pete had an urge for pizza for dinner, so once this was all completed I went off to the local shop to buy one. Upon my return I was greeted by a nurse who said there was a lovely smell of...
Will keep this short as I'm typing on the phone (no Wi-Fi here). I was admitted for observation last night, but temperature still high today and neutrophils continue to diminish. So I am to stay in hospital for some days on IV antibiotics. I'm not sorry as this is probably the best place to be right now.
Since coming off the syringe driver the oral medication for pain relief just doesnt seem to be working and my throat has been really sore for the past few days. Swallowing has also become more of a struggle, I managed a finely chopped bacon omelette last week, now i cannot even manage a small plate of scrambled egg due to difficulty swallowing. I have had to increase the amount of nightly force feed via PEG tube to offset the fact that i am not etaing as much, i have no appetite and feel pretty miserable...
Well another good day. Pete slept on & off all day but he managed little walks in between naps & ate 3 meals a Mars icecream & a little chocolate... go Pete. He still having his his Costa Coffee urges to. Dunno how long it will last as he said his taste buds had started to change today but I'll take what we can get right now
The treatment on Friday was fine.
I tried to keep my eyes open at some points and now understand that the whirring is when the machine is moving to a new position (over my face, or more the right of my head); the beeping is, I think, like a countdown to something (X-rays, or radiotherapy) starting; I don't really know what the humming is. Does this matter even?? Not at all ... it doesn't phase me in the slightest, but I am one of those people who wants to understand the procedure. I remember...
