Third Time's A Charm

My blood test at the main blood clinic went well, although I was very puffed by the time I had got there, making me worry that my red blood count might be down. It wasn't. I passed my blood test. I discussed the fact that chemo patients have to lurk near the door without taking a ticket and thus get glared at by those who do have to take a ticket and wait. Apparently they cannot put a sign up saying that chemo patients have priority because of patient confidentiality, which I can understand.

As it happens I now have the option as to whether I have my blood test, with an appointment, up in the chemo unit or do the lurking downstairs at the main clinic. You will not be surprised that I have chosen the former.

I have also deduced that the umpteen steroids I have to take before during and after my chemo might be responsible for my tastebuds going AWOL.

My chemo session went without event, which was nice. Although because I have to have pre-meds for the herceptin, and the decotaxel things do take quite a while. I considered being done within 5 hours pretty good going.

As per usual being dosed up on steroids means that today, the day after chemo, I am full of energy and have no pain. At this time I feel very optimistic, by Sunday when my legs are hurting and all the other delightful side effects start to kick in, I feel much less optimistic.

How Many?

I am frequently asked how many rounds of chemotherapy I have to undergo this time.

Good question. The short answer is I don't know.

On my notes it says "PD". I quipped that this means Patient Died, what it actually means is progression of disease. So I am presuming that I will continue with my current regimen until something happens to the cancer. Hopefully the disease will abate, if the disease progresses then I am presuming that I will be put on another type of chemo. Who knows? I banking on the fact that my oncologist does.

On this slightly grim subject I thought that I would enlighten you about the terms, terminal, incurable and treatable.

When breast cancer recurs anywhere except the breast it is defined as incurable as it cannot be surgically removed. It is however treatable as other things can be done such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Treatment can continue for months and years. Once it becomes untreatable it is then terminal and all that can be done is to make the patient comfortable. Having said that people live with terminal cancer for months and years. So there you have it.

Hair Today, Going Tomorrow Or Perhaps The Day After Or The Day After The That

My hair started to fall out at the end of February about 2 weeks after my first chemo and has continued to do so for the past 2 weeks.

It is really quite remarkable exactly how much of my hair can fall out before I start looking bald.

Whilst I can see that it is much, much thinner the overall effect is not that of baldness.Nor do I think that I look like a scrofulous plague victim yet. I suspect that it helps that my hair is white as is my scalp.

It doesn't seem to fall out in the clumps and handfuls that it did last time. My pillow in the morning has hair on it, but again not vast quantities. About the only irksome aspect of my hair falling out is that the collars of all my clothes and coats are liberally covered and it is remarkably difficult to remove, other than picking each one off individually.

General Update

Here I am at the end of the first week of my second round of chemo.

My back has improved considerably thanks to the application of industrial quantities of Aloe Vera gel. It is now just itchy rather than extremely sore.

I have as expected suffered from diarrhoea for the last few days. Bizarrely though it seems to be limited to mid to late morning, the rest of the time things are a little firmer, so  have not felt the need to take any medication for it.

I have managed to have a daily walk albeit only round the block. This is mainly because of tiredness, achy legs and my slight nervousness about being away from my loo.

As you are probably aware I take a lot of pills. The problem I am now having is that whereas I used to be brilliant at taking pills I am now completely useless. I can't swallow them, I retch and generally have the devil's own job getting them down.

My taste buds have gone south, so stuff tastes of nothing. Mayonnaise tastes like cream. Honey Nut Cheerios have lost their appeal, fortunately Sugar Puffs or as they're now called Honey Monster Puffs taste roughly the same as do Quavers. Consequently, although I know I need to eat I find it rather a chore. This leads to me feeling more tired and generally grotty. So I have to make a concerted effort to eat food rather than cereal and crisps. Fortunately choc ice lollies taste very good.

I find that this time round the first week or so after chemo is not a linear progression from feeling completely crappy to feeling better. It is more a case of two steps forward and one and a half steps back. Still onward and upwards.

Long Drawn Out Side Effects

The second round of chemo has had the expected side effects except much more so with respect to the pains in my legs. I spent pretty much all of yesterday in bed as the pain, even with painkillers was excruciating. Today the pain is abating which is good and I managed to go for a very, very slow walk around the block.

Another side effect which has taken quite a time to show itself is from the radiotherapy. I finished radiotherapy a little over six weeks ago and it is now that my back is red raw and very itchy. I presume that this means that the radiotherapy is still doing its stuff.

To be fair the side effects from the chemo do seem to come and go with relative speed, which makes them easier to deal with knowing that however grim things might be at the time just wait a little while and it will pass.

Seconds Out, Round Two

Well I passed the blood test, so my second round of chemotherapy went ahead.

Strictly speaking 3 of the 4 drugs I have are not chemotherapy as they are not cytotoxic. Two are monoclonal and the final one is to strengthen my bones.

Sadly, the blood test that I had up at the chemo unit was only trial, so from now on it's back to lurking by the door of the blood clinic in the main hospital.

I spent basically all day at the unit as each of the drugs take about an hour to push through and then there is flushing with saline after each one. Not to mention the preloading of antihistamine and other drugs to prevent me reacting to the herceptin.

In spite of having both hands free due to the wonder that is the portacath and thus being able to do crosswords etc. it gets really very boring. The boredom is punctuated with multiple trips to the loo and dozing.

The best part of this type of chemo is that I don't feel sick and in fact the day after (today) I am full of beans. Unfortunately this does wear off by the second day. So I made the most of today by going for a massive long walk. I will try, weather permitting, to continue to go for a daily walk, probably not as far or as for long as I did today, but try I will.

Blood Tests, Bruises and Hair

Previously having the obligatory blood test involved lurking at the door of hospital blood test unit and effectively queue jump. This actually requires a certain amount of chutzpah as those who have taken a queue ticket sit and glare at you, in spite of ostentatiously waving your chemotherapy book. The blood test people were, and probably are still, lovely, but it wasn't the best of experiences.

Now you go to the chemotherapy unit to have your blood test, This avoids the germ laden main body of the hospital and there are no people to glare at the audacity of your queue jumping and is a much better system.

In spite of having a portacath (the greatest invention known to medical science - yes I know I go on about its wonderfulness) the blood test has to be taken from a vein in my arm, of which I have 2 or possibly 3 barely functioning ones.

My son came with me as I was driving him back to university afterwards (lucky him on both counts!). He gives blood and commented about how very teeny weeny the needle was for the blood test. In comparison the ones used for blood donation look like Bic pens! I hope this doesn't put off anyone from donating their blood.

Anyway, the nurse finds a vein - hooray! Then says the words your really don't want to hear, "Ooops the vein's popped." I now have a rather spectacular large bruise on the upper part of my lower arem. It's amazing how much damage a small needle can cause. So she then goes for the vein at the base of my thumb total success this time.

As stated previously the chances of my hair falling out was about 70% for 2 out the 3 drugs I am being given. Well I reckon that's 140% likelihood that my hair will fall out and so it is. Strangely, although I have found quite a lot of hair on the collar of my clothes I have not found any on my pillow as yet and even when I wash and comb my hair not much falls out although it is a bit more than I would usually expect. Assuming that I don't look like some scrofulous plague victim I probably won't shave it all off. If I do I will.