3rd cycle of chemo started really well. I had my day 1 chemo with the Herceptin and
Zometa, rested for a couple of days and then made the most of the week ready
for my day 8 chemo. Day 8 chemo came and
went, felt bloody fab, so much so that I went along to a wedding reception on
the Saturday evening just 2 days after and stayed up till early hours or should
I say late hours of the morning drinking my favourite tipple of wine. And I
have to add here that I looked bloody good in my blonde hair and slinky sexy
number that I wore, not one to blow one’s own trumpet but hey someone’s gotta
do it.
Monday 26th August is where things started to go wrong. I woke up feeling a little tender around my
reconstruction on the right side (my
breast cancer side) as the day went on, my boobie started to go a little
red and a little hot. My temperature was
normal but I decided that I would pop my head in to see my breast nurse the
following day after my pain management appointment at the Hospice, before
heading up the motorway 60 miles to visit my mum for a couple of days.
As soon as my nurse saw me, she did the whole blood pressure
and temperature thing and gathered lots of blood from my port to be sent for
testing From there I was seen by an oncologist who then sent me over to the
breast clinic to see my (plastic surgeon)
breast doctor, who then sent me for an ultra sound and before I knew myself
what was happening, I was in private isolated room in a hospital bed with a
drip going into me along with lots of intravenous antibiotics. I was infected; but goodness knows where or
how I’d picked up the infection. On top
of that I was also told I was Neutropenic. “Whats that then” I asked.. you
would think by now they would stop using all these technical terms cos I just
don’t know what they mean and even after they explain, I forget, hence me telling people for a couple of days I
was neurotic. Anyway neutropenic, the correct word, is where
the white blood cells are really low and it affects the body’s ability to fight
off any infections. I was put on nil by
mouth and on the surgery list for the following morning depending on how I responded
to the antibiotics through the night, at which point I was now on IV an aural anti’s,
and had lovely black marker drawn all over my boob to measure where the redness
and swelling was. I escaped surgery on
the Wednesday morning as the redness and heat radiating from it seemed to be
fading, only to be put back onto fasting and the surgery list for the Thursday
morning as the heat and redness starting up again. I escaped surgery once more.
After 5 days of being isolated from anyone with infections, and
receiving Intravenous antibiotics I was allowed to go home with some aural
anti-biotics. Mr Boobie Doc still warned
me that surgery may be required but fingers crossed we had caught the infection
in time. I was seen a couple of days
later and issued another 2 weeks of antibiotics to keep on top of the
infection, still at this point, hopefully avoiding surgery. Chemo was postponed and by now I was wishing
that they had just took me into theatre on the same day as the infection was
found because at least I could be having chemo and killing squatters and be
back to how I was before all this infection stuff started. The antibiotics gave me thrush, so had more
antibiotics shoved down my throat for that and then I plummeted down with energy
levels, couldn’t eat and was only useful at making the sofa untidy, or using up
all the Kleenex and toilet roll in the house from my constant over emotional
tear ducts. All I wanted to do was
sleep.
My breast doctor, who has been keeping a close eye on me,
said that the antibiotics would make me tired and gave me a talking to about
eating properly. Easier said than done,
when just the thought of eating something makes you feel sick. I was living on glasses of milk and driving
Lee mad as he was trying to tempt me with every delight available, such as
pizza, Chinese and Indian, my favourite cousin.
He even failed with attempting me with even worse junk food (my favourite) crisps and chocolate. I was put on protein drinks I counted the
days away until the last of my antibiotics were taken. As if on cue, I started to pick up just in time
for my next CT Scan and Oncology appointment.
I was out sitting in the garden soaking up as much vitamin D as possible
and having some nice quality time with Lee, Luke and the Dogs. I was managing to keep awake for more than an
hour at a time and this was a massive improvement.
The bruises from the previous CT Scan hadn’t healed enough
and so doing something that were not supposed to do, opted to go for the side
that I’d had all my lymph nodes removed.
We hit jackpot first time with a nice small but juicy vein that probably
got the biggest shock in its life since it hasn’t been used are even acknowledged
for 5 yrs.
With the Antibiotics finished but still feeling quite tired,
I told Lee that I thought maybe I would be better off delaying chemo for
another week. I didn’t feel ready and
after talking to my breast nurse whilst taking all my bloods etc... She tended
to agree. I had it all sorted in my
mind, I was going to take control of my treatment but then all of that went out
of the window as I got carried away with my Mr Nice oncologist and my CT
Results. I didn’t expect much this time
with missing a cycle of chemo, but to my relief, the cancer is still stable,
with a bit of question mark as to whether there has been a reduction or
not. This depends on how the radiologist
measures, as each one has their own way of doing it. Saying that I am pretty chuffed that the
cancer is at the very least stable with no change and not grown any. Mr Lovely oncologist checked my now
non-infected boob, reeled off what the plan was going to be which included to prescribe
a daily injection to boost my white blood cells for 7 days after my day 1 infusion
and then followed by 7 days of anti-biotics starting from my day 8 infusion to
make sure I didn’t have a repeat performance of developing neutropenia and
infection. That was it, all sorted and
before I knew it I was out of the door smiling, almost standing upright and
looking forward to chemo tomorrow.
So much for me taking control! Part of me still feels that I would benefit from
another week off treatment, but another part of me is saying ‘get on with it
and get some squatters squashed’. I am
left wondering how much reduction I would have had ‘IF’ I’d had the full 2 cycles
between my 6 weekly scans, so i’m on a race now to complete the next 2 cycles
without any delays to see how much more cancer can be reduced. I’m still tired, but hopefully the injections
to boost my white blood cells will sort this out.
My normal routing for the night before Chemo has always been
to have a relaxing evening with a nice glass of wine. I have been tea total for 3 wks now and even
though my antibiotics have finished I don’t actually feel in a wine mood. Maybe it’s because I’m still run down and
tired or maybe it’s that little voice in my head saying ‘Don’t want a hangover’
I settled instead for a mug of milky Horlicks.
2 comments:
Hope you enjoy all the Horlicks you want with no icky feelings.Happy about the stability!
Nothing like a good horlicks at night Thandi to give you good ppeaxeful nights sleep. Like always; nothing can keep me down for long, getting stronger am more energy every day xxx
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