Since last Wednesday the pattern has been the same that followed other treatments even if the dosage was reduced. Thursday and Friday were relatively OK - just tingly hands and tiredness. The tingling in the feet was not as bad as last time and was nothing to be really concerned about. I think that the warmer weather helps. Saturday the tiredness increased lasting into Sunday and Monday. I think that this must be the cumulative effect of the chemo.
On Saturday I did manage to go to the RSPCA Spring Fayre at Millbrook and forced myself to have tea and a cup cakes sat outside in the sunshine. Neil was in celebratory mood as Man City are in the FA Cup Final - first time for 30 years! Beating their nemesis Man Utd was the additional icing on the cake. Shame Neil had to work at midnight for a few hours or there would have been more celebrations. So now looking forward to the FA Cup Final after all the reruns of Saturday's game.
I received a copy of a letter that the oncologist sent to my GP.He does this every month with details of my progress. This month he has said :
"he has tolerated the treatment extremely well, the extra week has helped his fatigue and he is now back at work. His neutrophil count continues to be low and barely recovers and dose adjustments have been made to accommodate this but I sense that the Oxaliplatin will have to be withdrawn by cycle 5-6 and will be confirmed at his next visit."
This makes sense when you realise that Neutrophil is a type of white blood cell and Oxaliplatin is the chemo drug in my infusion. So it seems that we are closer to the end of the intravenous chemo than we initially thought. My next appointment with the oncologist is 4 May. This means that I will have my blood test very early in the cycle as there are Bank Holidays on 29 April and 2 May.
Wednesday 20 April 2011
Friday 15 April 2011
Treatment 4 - Wed 13 April
Half way through or more? I met with the oncologist before my treatment. He gave me the results of the blood test that I went for on Monday. Even with a 4 week cycle my white blood cell count had not fully recovered as I was sensitive to the intravenous chemo. It should have recovered to 1.5 where as mine was 1.2. This meant that I could go ahead with the treatment but the dosage was reduce again. This should mean that the side effects will be less.
I am back on a three week cycle and we will have a discussion on 3 May when my next treatment is scheduled to see how many more treatments I will have. He was pleased that we had to got to 4 treatments as this a milestone as some oncologists believe that this will provide optimum coverage where as some err on the side of caution and insist on 8 sessions. In my case it depends on how the white cell count recovers as if it continues to drop then the dosage of the chemo has to be reduced and then the question has to be what benefits are being obtained from it. The biggest risk is that if the white blood cell count continues to drop then this leaves me open to other infections and viruses which I am currently managing to escape.
He hopes that if we have to drop the infusions then we will be able to continue with the tablet form of chemo and I have not had a problem with that in the past. So let's see what happens in the next 3 weeks and there is nothing I can do to increase my white cell count it is just that I am sensitive to the drug. But at least we got to 4 treatments and I hope that we might get 1 more session.
So today I have had much the same in the way of side effects - tiredness & tingly hands. Strangely my face has been red for most of the day. It looks just like I have too much sun. As the day has progressed it has faded so now I look like a bit tanned - not that today was even sunny. I have spent most of the day resting and reading. I have spent the last year it seems reading and enjoying it immensely. I was chatting to Philip last night about the The BBC Big Read - Top 100 Books. I was surprised to find out that I had only read 30 of them! I thought that I was seriously not well read until I looked more closely at the list which has all the Harry Potter books on it as well as 3 by Jacqueline Wilson ( who I have never heard of.) - now wonder when you see the cover!
So I need to revisit the list as it doesn't seem so high brow as I thought it was and so I may be more well read than I initially thought! But it did stir me into joining Philip and a colleague of his in reading" Love In The Time Of Cholera" by Gabriel García Márquez so we can discuss this in our own little book club - I just need to get a copy of it and even if it is a bit high brow I will have to finish it so we can discuss it! So I will be more well read!
And a blog entry would not be the same without a mention of Colin! As I have a bit more energy this evening I managed to make it to dog obedience classes. I only managed to hand Neil the treats while he and Colin did all the hard work. Once Colin got over the initial excitement he concentrated and did very well -so well in fact he has collapsed with exhaustion since we got home.
So all in all a good day for the first post treatment!
I am back on a three week cycle and we will have a discussion on 3 May when my next treatment is scheduled to see how many more treatments I will have. He was pleased that we had to got to 4 treatments as this a milestone as some oncologists believe that this will provide optimum coverage where as some err on the side of caution and insist on 8 sessions. In my case it depends on how the white cell count recovers as if it continues to drop then the dosage of the chemo has to be reduced and then the question has to be what benefits are being obtained from it. The biggest risk is that if the white blood cell count continues to drop then this leaves me open to other infections and viruses which I am currently managing to escape.
He hopes that if we have to drop the infusions then we will be able to continue with the tablet form of chemo and I have not had a problem with that in the past. So let's see what happens in the next 3 weeks and there is nothing I can do to increase my white cell count it is just that I am sensitive to the drug. But at least we got to 4 treatments and I hope that we might get 1 more session.
So today I have had much the same in the way of side effects - tiredness & tingly hands. Strangely my face has been red for most of the day. It looks just like I have too much sun. As the day has progressed it has faded so now I look like a bit tanned - not that today was even sunny. I have spent most of the day resting and reading. I have spent the last year it seems reading and enjoying it immensely. I was chatting to Philip last night about the The BBC Big Read - Top 100 Books. I was surprised to find out that I had only read 30 of them! I thought that I was seriously not well read until I looked more closely at the list which has all the Harry Potter books on it as well as 3 by Jacqueline Wilson ( who I have never heard of.) - now wonder when you see the cover!
 | ||||||
| Doesn't look like one for me! |
And a blog entry would not be the same without a mention of Colin! As I have a bit more energy this evening I managed to make it to dog obedience classes. I only managed to hand Neil the treats while he and Colin did all the hard work. Once Colin got over the initial excitement he concentrated and did very well -so well in fact he has collapsed with exhaustion since we got home.
So all in all a good day for the first post treatment!
Thursday 14 April 2011
The day before my 4th treatment
Wednesday I had my fourth infusion. The last 4 weeks have really flown by, for the last 3 weeks I have felt particularly well which improved as the weeks passed so that I now feel almost back to normal energy levels and have been doing chores and keeping busy. By 10.00pm I am tired but then I always was so that's nothing new. I have been getting lots of exercise walking Colin which with the sunny weather has been a great mood enhancer and I have gone back to work - which I have decided will be a good distraction, get my brain working again and give some structure to my week. I am no longer on benefits so I have helped the government initiative to get people back to work!
I even managed to commute to the office in London for 3 days and survived a travel disruption when there were no trains leaving Waterloo. When there was a train to Sunningdale I was lucky to have a seat so I didn't mind how long it took to get home - a new feeling from when I commuted regularly.
I have decided that I will try to save as much as I can of my earnings so that when this is all over and the winter blues are making a comeback, Neil and I can go on a 5 star holiday next winter. Difficult to appreciate it will when it feels as though summer has already arrived.
I have seen a lot of friends over the last 3 weeks.Thank you to those who made the journey to see me and for those we visited for making the time for us to visit. Maybe Colin was the reason why we might have been so popular and he has now been socialised with everyone I think and we have enjoyed seeing everyone!
He even managed a swim at Phil & Lisa's house when we visited on Saturday in their pond. I took my eye off him for a minute and he was straight in their pond - how embarrassing seeing your dog swimming in the pond.The look on his face suggested that he did not think it was going to be that deep. The efforts of grooming him quickly disappeared as we spent the rest of the visit with Colin smelling of wet dog - not the best of smells. Note to self - must buy him some doggie cologne!
So why when all these good things are happening have I woken up feeling irritable and blue on Tuesday morning? I think it was the thought of going for my treatment tomorrow and having to face the fact that for the following 4 days I will be feeling a bit yuk! In the past when I have been ill with a cold I haven't anticipated feeling rough, but going for my chemo is different. I know that after Wednesday, I will not be feeling great. The anticipation of that is a real downer when I should have been enjoying the last day of my good weeks. I know that the chemo is the right thing to do and these last three weeks have given me a glimmer of what life will hopefully be like again at the end of the treatment in July. After Wednesday I am half way through the treatment which is a milestone in itself but it seems like this has been going on forever - next month it is hard to believe it will be a year since my diagnosis!.
I even managed to commute to the office in London for 3 days and survived a travel disruption when there were no trains leaving Waterloo. When there was a train to Sunningdale I was lucky to have a seat so I didn't mind how long it took to get home - a new feeling from when I commuted regularly.
I have decided that I will try to save as much as I can of my earnings so that when this is all over and the winter blues are making a comeback, Neil and I can go on a 5 star holiday next winter. Difficult to appreciate it will when it feels as though summer has already arrived.
I have seen a lot of friends over the last 3 weeks.Thank you to those who made the journey to see me and for those we visited for making the time for us to visit. Maybe Colin was the reason why we might have been so popular and he has now been socialised with everyone I think and we have enjoyed seeing everyone!
 | |
| After he had dried off |
So why when all these good things are happening have I woken up feeling irritable and blue on Tuesday morning? I think it was the thought of going for my treatment tomorrow and having to face the fact that for the following 4 days I will be feeling a bit yuk! In the past when I have been ill with a cold I haven't anticipated feeling rough, but going for my chemo is different. I know that after Wednesday, I will not be feeling great. The anticipation of that is a real downer when I should have been enjoying the last day of my good weeks. I know that the chemo is the right thing to do and these last three weeks have given me a glimmer of what life will hopefully be like again at the end of the treatment in July. After Wednesday I am half way through the treatment which is a milestone in itself but it seems like this has been going on forever - next month it is hard to believe it will be a year since my diagnosis!.
Monday 11 April 2011
Weekly catch up - well a bit longer!
I can't believe it is over a week since I last posted. The good news is that I have been well during this period. The warmer weather has meant that the tingly feeling in my hands and toes disappeared after 7 days. No other side effects except tiredness in the evenings.
This is all good news as Neil has been away on a well deserved break for 6 days to South Africa. He just wanted to chill out and soak up some sunshine and catch up on his sleep. So it was just Colin and me.
Once we established a routine things got easier and as long as I walked him often enough he was exhausted & slept. Colin and I both missed Neil. Having Colin around was great company for me even if his conversation was a bit limiting! I kept in contact with Neil every evening via Google chat which was an easy way to keep up to date with the day's happenings.
I had lots of visitors while Neil was away - which coincided with some warm sunny weather so I spent a lot of time outside. Colin is now getting used to cafe society as he went with me to Savill Gardens cafe and Cafe Fego. He enjoyed a refreshing bowl of water while I had a cup of tea and a piece of cake.
The evenings we collapsed in front of the TV - me crashed out on the sofa and him on the floor - well apart from one evening when we both fell asleep on the sofa. Not sure Neil would have approved!
Neil came back on Thursday afternoon after his flight was delayed by 5 hours. There was a very excited reunion - Colin was beside himself. It was good to have Neil back and some time off doggie care for me!
So as you can tell from the above Colin is acting as the perfect diversion from the treatment and all things hospital related, my mood has been so much brighter through the last 4 weeks all because I've not had time to feel in anyway sorry for myself as it's all about the Dog these days.
This is all good news as Neil has been away on a well deserved break for 6 days to South Africa. He just wanted to chill out and soak up some sunshine and catch up on his sleep. So it was just Colin and me.
Once we established a routine things got easier and as long as I walked him often enough he was exhausted & slept. Colin and I both missed Neil. Having Colin around was great company for me even if his conversation was a bit limiting! I kept in contact with Neil every evening via Google chat which was an easy way to keep up to date with the day's happenings.
I had lots of visitors while Neil was away - which coincided with some warm sunny weather so I spent a lot of time outside. Colin is now getting used to cafe society as he went with me to Savill Gardens cafe and Cafe Fego. He enjoyed a refreshing bowl of water while I had a cup of tea and a piece of cake.
The evenings we collapsed in front of the TV - me crashed out on the sofa and him on the floor - well apart from one evening when we both fell asleep on the sofa. Not sure Neil would have approved!
Neil came back on Thursday afternoon after his flight was delayed by 5 hours. There was a very excited reunion - Colin was beside himself. It was good to have Neil back and some time off doggie care for me!
So as you can tell from the above Colin is acting as the perfect diversion from the treatment and all things hospital related, my mood has been so much brighter through the last 4 weeks all because I've not had time to feel in anyway sorry for myself as it's all about the Dog these days.
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