Sunday 31st October
You will note that I have not posted for a while, this is mainly because there has been little or nothing about which to post.
However, about 10 days ago my lower left rib began to stick out. It felt as if I had bashed it and it was bruised. I assumed that it was a result of where the drain was positioned after my operation and that the scar tissue was "catching" or otherwise being irritating. My rib was sticking out a lot and was sore enough that I couldn't sleep on my left hand side and raising my left arm was uncomfortable. Anyway the sticking out and the pain subsided after a few days.
On Thursday of last week I went to see my doctor about something quite unrelated to my current condition and happened to mention my rib to her. Being the thorough top professional that she is, she decided to have a quick shufti. Pressing on the rib caused no pain at all, however when she pressed gently underneath the rib from my solar plexus I thought she had dislocated it, the pain was excruciating. Apparently, it's not my rib but my spleen which is swollen, possibly as a result of the chemotherapy. So it's off to hospital for yet another scan to see if everything is tickety boo! This is the same doctor I saw back in June about the original lump. I did mention that I might stop seeing her as she has a habit of finding things that are really wrong with me!
So I have now learned that my ribs (and for that matter yours as well) not only cover my lungs but also my spleen and on the other side my liver. So you really do learn something new everyday.
Sunday, 31 October 2010
Saturday, 23 October 2010
Hooray for Ade Edmonson!
Saturday 23rd October
In today's Daily Mail Weekend magazine is an interview with Adrian Edmonson. In it he insists that he is quoted verbatim.
"No one battles cancer", neither is is "a rollercoaster ride". "It's just a long, slow, miserable grind."
"This is just a really inconvenient, horrible kind of treatment. It was a miserable business and extremely undignified."
He is absolutely right. I am not battling cancer, I am undergoing treatment, which currently is really quite bearable. I have felt a little nauseous, been sick once, got a bit of a sore mouth and occasionally feel totally whacked out. The vast majority of the time I feel really quite normal, or at least normal for me, which is something of a moot point! I realise that this state of affairs will not continue as I progress through my treatment.
Anyway, I am just so glad that someone in the public eye has told it like it is. It's good to know that I haven't "missed the point" and that what I am experiencing appears to be what, at least, one other person and her family have gone through.
In today's Daily Mail Weekend magazine is an interview with Adrian Edmonson. In it he insists that he is quoted verbatim.
"No one battles cancer", neither is is "a rollercoaster ride". "It's just a long, slow, miserable grind."
"This is just a really inconvenient, horrible kind of treatment. It was a miserable business and extremely undignified."
He is absolutely right. I am not battling cancer, I am undergoing treatment, which currently is really quite bearable. I have felt a little nauseous, been sick once, got a bit of a sore mouth and occasionally feel totally whacked out. The vast majority of the time I feel really quite normal, or at least normal for me, which is something of a moot point! I realise that this state of affairs will not continue as I progress through my treatment.
Anyway, I am just so glad that someone in the public eye has told it like it is. It's good to know that I haven't "missed the point" and that what I am experiencing appears to be what, at least, one other person and her family have gone through.
Monday, 18 October 2010
Back To Normality?
Monday 18th October
I went to work today which was more or less tiring than I expected, in that the walk there and back was as tiring as I was expecting and the work was a little more taxing than I was expecting. I find I have to concentrate quite hard, clearly the cotton wool in my brain hasn't quite cleared yet.
The side effects of one of the anti-emetics are now being felt with a vengeance. I think I have eaten my body weight in prunes today! Enough said!
It has only recently dawned on me that it is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I thought I was just being more sensitive to breast cancer articles in the papers and magazines.
What I do find interesting is other cancer patients' and their relatives' reaction to diagnosis. Some have literally thrown up for hours after being told.
I am put in mind of Rudyard Kipling's poem "If..."
If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs...
Maybe you've missed the point!
I don't think I am underestimating what is happening to me, but I do think that I have complete trust in the medical world and what they are doing for me and telling me. At no point during this whole experience have I felt uninformed or that not everything was being done that could be.
In general I feel extremely grateful that I had a cyst, that I had a GP who was keen to send me for a mammogram, that I had a keen eyed consultant radiographer...
I went to work today which was more or less tiring than I expected, in that the walk there and back was as tiring as I was expecting and the work was a little more taxing than I was expecting. I find I have to concentrate quite hard, clearly the cotton wool in my brain hasn't quite cleared yet.
The side effects of one of the anti-emetics are now being felt with a vengeance. I think I have eaten my body weight in prunes today! Enough said!
It has only recently dawned on me that it is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I thought I was just being more sensitive to breast cancer articles in the papers and magazines.
What I do find interesting is other cancer patients' and their relatives' reaction to diagnosis. Some have literally thrown up for hours after being told.
I am put in mind of Rudyard Kipling's poem "If..."
If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs...
Maybe you've missed the point!
I don't think I am underestimating what is happening to me, but I do think that I have complete trust in the medical world and what they are doing for me and telling me. At no point during this whole experience have I felt uninformed or that not everything was being done that could be.
In general I feel extremely grateful that I had a cyst, that I had a GP who was keen to send me for a mammogram, that I had a keen eyed consultant radiographer...
Saturday, 16 October 2010
Someone Has Moved The Newsagents!
Friday 15th October
The day started much the same as the day before but without the headache. In general I feel much improved.
After breakfast I make my usual trip to the newsagents at the end of my road. Clearly someone has put it back to where it was. I know for a fact that it was moved much, much further away yesterday, it took me ages to get there and clearly someone moved while I was in there, because it took me even longer to get back! Happily everything is getting back to normal.
I spend Friday doing much the same as Thursday although I manage to complete the plethora of crosswords, sudokos, etc. Not at my usual speed but at least I manage to get through them all. Obviously the cotton wool in my head is thinning out.
The day started much the same as the day before but without the headache. In general I feel much improved.
After breakfast I make my usual trip to the newsagents at the end of my road. Clearly someone has put it back to where it was. I know for a fact that it was moved much, much further away yesterday, it took me ages to get there and clearly someone moved while I was in there, because it took me even longer to get back! Happily everything is getting back to normal.
I spend Friday doing much the same as Thursday although I manage to complete the plethora of crosswords, sudokos, etc. Not at my usual speed but at least I manage to get through them all. Obviously the cotton wool in my head is thinning out.
Friday, 15 October 2010
The Morning After The Day Before
Thursday 14th October
Having spent a fairly rough night I wake up not feeling nauseous but still with a slight headache.
I demolish my bowl of porridge followed by two types of anti-emetics and one steroid, all washed down with warm milk. My stomach doesn't feel like it would like anything cold.
Everyone, especially my mother, tells me to rest and take it easy. To be honest it is physically impossible to do anything else. Not only is the flesh weak but the spirit is also unwilling. Even doing my usual crosswords, sudukos, ken ken and code word puzzles is far to taxing on my cotton wool brain. I watch a bit of TV and then go back to bed.
Lunch consists of lots of Marmite and toast, which tastes a little metallic. I have to eat in order to take the next round of drugs. One emetic and one steroid.
More TV and then bed again.
I get up when Nick and Hannah return from school. Sitting on the sofa is too tiring so I have to lie down. The cats think this is the way everyone should be and one of them joins me!
For supper I have tomato soup and lots of bread. Bland is currently my favourite food. Followed by the last lot of drugs for the day, two anti-emetics.
I manage to stay up until 10pm and then pass a fairly good night. No headache or nausea - hooray!!!
Having spent a fairly rough night I wake up not feeling nauseous but still with a slight headache.
I demolish my bowl of porridge followed by two types of anti-emetics and one steroid, all washed down with warm milk. My stomach doesn't feel like it would like anything cold.
Everyone, especially my mother, tells me to rest and take it easy. To be honest it is physically impossible to do anything else. Not only is the flesh weak but the spirit is also unwilling. Even doing my usual crosswords, sudukos, ken ken and code word puzzles is far to taxing on my cotton wool brain. I watch a bit of TV and then go back to bed.
Lunch consists of lots of Marmite and toast, which tastes a little metallic. I have to eat in order to take the next round of drugs. One emetic and one steroid.
More TV and then bed again.
I get up when Nick and Hannah return from school. Sitting on the sofa is too tiring so I have to lie down. The cats think this is the way everyone should be and one of them joins me!
For supper I have tomato soup and lots of bread. Bland is currently my favourite food. Followed by the last lot of drugs for the day, two anti-emetics.
I manage to stay up until 10pm and then pass a fairly good night. No headache or nausea - hooray!!!
Thursday, 14 October 2010
Chemotherapy - One Down Five To Go
We arrive at my appointed time, but evidently someone is taking longer than anticipated so we eventually get in an hour late. Although to be honest I really didn't feel as though I had waited all that long.
First my arm is put in a bucket of warm water to bring the vein up. The cannula is inserted and a saline drip is started. I am also injected with anti-emetics and steroids. The interesting effect of the steroids is as the nurse said a sensation in my bottom, although the Jeremy Clarkson description of "front lady bottom" would have been more accurate. This strange tingling/ itching lasts only a few minutes, but it is strange.
At this point I have the cold cap or Elasto-Gel cap put on . It is cold but I've had worse. This is left on for 25 minutes and then replaced with another one, which is also left on for about 25 minutes. This is then replaces with yet another cap which is left on for an hour.
I am then ready to receive the 8 very large syringes of chemotherapy. The first four in are red and about half way though the first one I feel really nauseous. So the nurse pauses and then I am fine. The whole procedure takes a little over 2 hours, including going to the loo and having a cup of tea.
I leave the hospital feeling fine.
As the evening progresses I become increasingly zonked. Even watching Midsomer Murders is a little too taxing. I go to bed but cannot sleep. My head hurts and I feeling very bloated and burpy. It is as though I have the worst hangover ever.
At about 1.15am my burpiness finally gives way to throwing up. Fortunately I feel much better once I have thrown up. Although I do wonder how I would have felt without the anti-emetics.
I pass the rest of the night fitfully.
First my arm is put in a bucket of warm water to bring the vein up. The cannula is inserted and a saline drip is started. I am also injected with anti-emetics and steroids. The interesting effect of the steroids is as the nurse said a sensation in my bottom, although the Jeremy Clarkson description of "front lady bottom" would have been more accurate. This strange tingling/ itching lasts only a few minutes, but it is strange.
At this point I have the cold cap or Elasto-Gel cap put on . It is cold but I've had worse. This is left on for 25 minutes and then replaced with another one, which is also left on for about 25 minutes. This is then replaces with yet another cap which is left on for an hour.
I am then ready to receive the 8 very large syringes of chemotherapy. The first four in are red and about half way though the first one I feel really nauseous. So the nurse pauses and then I am fine. The whole procedure takes a little over 2 hours, including going to the loo and having a cup of tea.
I leave the hospital feeling fine.
As the evening progresses I become increasingly zonked. Even watching Midsomer Murders is a little too taxing. I go to bed but cannot sleep. My head hurts and I feeling very bloated and burpy. It is as though I have the worst hangover ever.
At about 1.15am my burpiness finally gives way to throwing up. Fortunately I feel much better once I have thrown up. Although I do wonder how I would have felt without the anti-emetics.
I pass the rest of the night fitfully.
The Blood Test
Tuesday 13th October
The day before chemo, every time, I have to have a blood test to make sure I am well enough to receive all those toxic chemicals!!!
The best bit about it is that there is no waiting around. Just turn up and effectively jump the queue.
Obviously I endured the glares of the waiting crowd of about 10 people, but the looks on their face change immediately as the blood technician says "Chemo patient?".
The woman who takes my blood from my non-receptive right arm is truly a genius not only does it really not hurt but she finds the vein quickly and efficiently. Top professional!!!
The day before chemo, every time, I have to have a blood test to make sure I am well enough to receive all those toxic chemicals!!!
The best bit about it is that there is no waiting around. Just turn up and effectively jump the queue.
Obviously I endured the glares of the waiting crowd of about 10 people, but the looks on their face change immediately as the blood technician says "Chemo patient?".
The woman who takes my blood from my non-receptive right arm is truly a genius not only does it really not hurt but she finds the vein quickly and efficiently. Top professional!!!
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