Hello all,
Day One of Cycle Two of paclitaxel and carboplatin treatment started on Monday morning (12th), but was delayed slightly after the nurse looked at my left arm where I'd had the extravasation two weeks earlier. She thought the darkish reddening of my skin was cellulitis, so I'm now on a 5-day course of antibiotics.
Three days on and I still have a tingling in my left palm, but the swelling has gone down. It's not particularly painful but I can feel it, so I'm hoping it will improve more soon. Given that my PICC line appointment was for the following day (13th), I was prepared to use my right arm to avoid any delay (though a bit nervous!). But the nurse was concerned about insertion of a PICC 24 hours after treatment and made inquiries. The upshot was that by midday, I'd had the PICC line fitted there and then (as it was a quiet day for the X-ray department nearby) and both infusions went ahead with no issues. The district nurse called the following day to flush and re-dress it and she can do the pre-chemo bloods from it as well.
It was a great relief from more needles, and having it done then also saved me the hour-long journey each way to another hospital the following day. The Limbo sleeve worked well for showering too.
Comparing my blood results of 26/12/25 with 9/1/26, there had been an overall improvement over the two weeks with almost everything back into the normal range. Only the RBC was slightly down, but still better than 26/12. The bananas, avocados, dark chocolate and spinach seems to be working. I also added in occasional Innocent beetroot, apple and spinach smoothie drinks, more carrots, broccoli and Weetabix, if that hopefully helps anyone else.
So far, so good with no other adverse effects, apart from managing the constipation and effect it has on my stoma. Laxido is definitely needed!
Kathy
