Bognor or Bust!

I'm going to say this in a really quiet voice........I've made it through a whole weekend at my most at risk point without ending up in hospital! What's more, we even managed a night out. I'm very proud of myself. My ongoing anxieties about the thermometer have abated temporarily. Technically I still have a couple more days at risk, but I'm now happy to say that I'm quietly confident that this will be the first cycle where I haven't ended up in hospital. Third time lucky after the first two failed attempts. I've pretty much been a hermit since my last post until Saturday. I figured that staying out of people's way would help with the infection control thing. I've even been to the supermarket early in the morning to try and avoid the crowds. Shopping was all done and safely at home in the fridge by 9am in the morning. My diet has been mainly beige over the last few days to reduce the likelihood of ingesting anything that may cause a problem. R...

A quick update for you all....... Well the CT scan on Friday didn't happen which put me in a really bad mood! Apparently there was some mix-up between the scan department and consultant on when it was due to happen. Unfortunately they didn't realise this until the needle had been put into me, which was a bit of a shame as I really don't like them putting it in. Never mind, all for good reason as the consultant wants to see the impact of cycle 3 on my lungs and given the CT was planned for the day after cycle 3 he didn't feel this was long enough, which seemed to be reasonable. I'm all for giving it as long as possible...... That said it did leave me in a bit of a grump on Friday, so I went back to bed so as not to inflict my grump on anyone else! This cycle has left me very tired. I'm not sure if it's because of the GCSF. Even if it is, it's very welcome if it keeps me out of hospital. I'm also pleased to report that there has been no rash th...

So that's it. Round 3 of chemo is in me and fighting it's way around my body. That brings us to half way through the chemo so I feel I am now a veteran at this. With comforting predictability my taste buds have already gone and my nose is streaming. So at least I have confirmation that it was indeed chemo that they put in me today! And so the battle of staying out of hospital begins. My first defence against that is the GCSF which I will stab myself in the stomach with at lunchtime tomorrow. I also have a confusing array of anti-nausea drugs with various instructions around taking before or after food. I struggle with it and I trained as a pharmacist, so I have a head start on quite a few other people! I have also had to start in-filling my eyebrows for the first time. I was a bit nervous about doing it as it was the first time, but one of the chemo nurses commented that they looked really good and asked if I was a professional make-up artist, which did make me smile. Littl...

Sunday evening and a wonderfully normal day and weekend. I've even managed to stay out of hospital this weekend - hurrah! I managed a short run yesterday (painfully slow, but completed none the less) and then Briony had stage coach as normal. Stephen's parents got Briony a Scalextric for Christmas so we had some fun setting this up and then racing. Briony got a bit cross when either of us won, so we had to have a gentle word with her. Sometimes it must be tough being the only child! The evening was finished nicely with 3 glasses of Prosecco and a ridiculous film called Burn After Reading. Stephen has told me to add that it is directed by the Coen Brothers. I'm such a heathen that it makes no difference to me. All I know is that both George Clooney and Brad Pitt were in it. As a consequence of the 3 glasses of Prosecco I slept terribly last night and awoke with a headache this morning. I am now a certified light-weight as 3 units is more than I have drunk in the past 2...

I am sat in the comfort of my own home writing this - hurrah! My blood counts hit the magic number and enough of my immune system has now returned from it's New Year's break to allow me into the germ infested world. The NHS treated me well, I have to say. A&E was incredibly busy and there clearly weren't enough staff/too many people with flu. There was also one absolute idiot who turned very nasty at about 2am in the morning for something that quite frankly wasn't appropriate for A&E (I was stood next to them at the reception clerking area) so do feel qualified to comment - even the receptionist was asking why he hadn't seen the GP when it happened 3 weeks ago). Sadly, because there were so many people with potential flu in A&E I was confined to my side-room in A&E. This was probably a good thing given the general mayhem outside in the general area. I didn't sleep at all. That's 2 Saturday evenings I have now spent in A&E - it is fa...

Am writing this on the iPhone for the first time so no idea if it will work or not. It would appear I spoke too soon on how well cycle 2 was going as I’m currently sat in isolation in Stoke Mandeville hospital. Bollocks. My temperature went up last night so as is protocol I trekked across to A&E. I couldn’t help thinking this was my penance for the one glass of prosecco I’d enjoyed earlier in the day, my first since Christmas. Usual drill of bloods and IV antibiotics whilst waiting for the bloods to come back, except this time they weren’t fine. I have febrile neutropenia. This is quite scary because I actually feel fine. I have a cold but nothing I can’t manage, but it is apparently this that has tipped me over the edge as my poor immune system is non-existent. I need to stay in until my blood counts hit a certain level and I haven’t had a temperature for 24 hours. My blood counts today are the same as yesterday, so haven’t moved. Let’s see what tomorrow brings....,.,

Hopefully you are all still sticking to your New Year's resolutions? If not, shame on you! So here I am, a week after cycle 2. I have to say, and without wanting to tempt fate, or obviously sound smug, I seem to have survived it pretty well this time around. There are the obvious effects mentioned before (mouth like the bottom of hamster cage, no taste buds, no hair = cold head), but I haven't got the rash this time (good news as it means it was the GCSF and not the chemo), nor have I had any of the issues of last time with infection and random A&E visits in the middle of the night. There was one touch and go moment on New Year's Eve (why would it be any other time obviously!) where my temperature did go up, but we re-measured 30 minutes later and concluded it must have been the ear that I was lying on as everything was fine. I haven't even been as tired this cycle, which is markedly different to last cycle. Last cycle I was spending at least half the day in b...