Month: March 2015

Day 86-94 Chemotherapy

robinbtaylor Cancer, Chemotherapy, Diagnosis and symptoms, Health, Leukaemia, Lymphoma , ,

As people ask how I am, I usually respond with ‘I feel fine.’ Although an automatic response to a casual question, it’s something I sometimes have to think hard about. I recently realised that I’m no longer sure what ‘fine’ feels like. With a dizzy disorientation, light headedness, lethargy, forgetfulness, tingling extremities and a dull haze around everything I do, I still feel much better than recently although I suppose health and state of mind are all relative.

Day 86-87 Chemotherapy

Although it has since turned out not to be the case, as far as I had expected, these were my last days on the ward- I had previously planned a card and some chocolates which with the help of Liz were hidden away in my belongings to pass to the nurses on my departure.

I had a final dose of Chemotherapy (Etoposide, ifosfamide and Mesna) on day 86 (Wednesday) Which was gruelling and annoying, but dampened by the thought of going home. The Thursday (day 87) was rounded off with a final intrathecal (IT) injection of methotrexate which was performed quickly and relatively painlessly (although not a procedure I’ll be missing)

On a few of the ‘IT’ injections administered I’ve experienced the pain or shocking numbness which can occur when the needle comes close to a nerve ending. It happened again this time although strangely the pain felt like someone pinched my leg which startled me. Otherwise the procedure went fairly smoothly.

Homeward Bound

I’m fairly used to the procedure now, and was careful not to jeopardise my release by giving anyone any excuse for delay (the organised registrar helpfully rescheduled his morning to start the procedure early). Even so, I was not ready for collection until around 17:30 and although we didn’t get home till 19:00, I was happy to have the option of refusing my final hospital dinner!

Still aching from the procedure I spent Friday and most of the weekend resting.

It was Liz’s birthday on Sunday and although her gift from me is an IOU, her family came up and I think she was more than happy to see them. I realised I hadn’t seen or spoke to them directly since Christmas, so it was good to catch up and experience a little friendly normality.

Days 91-94 Recovery

On Monday, it was back to the routine of the district nurse arriving to perform blood tests. I was a little apprehensive as I had decided not to take my Lenograstim over the weekend after a discussion with the nurse who agreed with my logic. The results came in fairly quickly and I had a call from the ward asking how I felt. I felt light headed and knew I was neutropenic but my neutrophils had dropped to 0.0 which is well below the normal safety threshold. I managed to negotiate with her as my platelets were still 28 (low but within danger levels provided I don’t cut myself) and I knew I had the back up of the injections.

My next test was Wednesday (yesterday) the call came in again, and this time they weren’t as lenient. My neutrophils had risen to 0.2 but my platelets were now 7 which normally would lead to random bleeding but Luckily my skin integrity has seemed to hold together fairly well apart from a few random pin pricks and bruising across my skin.

Petechiae pin pricks
‘Petechiae’ pin pricks

Petechiae is the technical name for the pin pricks which are caused as blood vessels burst due to the shortness of platelets (also technically called ‘thrombocytes’ and ‘thrombocytopenia’ is the condition).

so I’m sat in hospital after another uncomfortably interrupted night waiting for a transfusion of blood and platelets. If the internal politics go in my favour I can go home shortly after although it’s difficult to argue and negotiate with doctors for whom safety is their primary concern.

Day 79-85 Chemo

robinbtaylor Cancer, Chemotherapy, Diagnosis and symptoms, Health, Leukaemia, Lymphoma , ,

After my return home, I could feel my body recovering with the usual ache of my bones. Otherwise, I could feel myself getting back on track.

I decided to break from my usual computer gaming and have a go at painting. I only managed to put down the first background layer and spent a day testing colours but it felt like a long overdue release – a hobby that work had replaced in recent years and something I’m glad to re-visit.

Willing my body better seemed to help as I received a call on Thursday afternoon after another good set of blood results.

I’m on day 4 and roughly half way into my R-IVAC course. I’d forgotten the amount of chemicals it involves and the daily routine has almost merged into a dreamy autopilot. So far, the treatments have lasted well into the night and having regular interruptions has affected my sleeping pattern. Although trying to keep awake and mobile, I’ve spent the last couple of days catching up on sleep.

My appetite is also deteriorating again as the sickness kicks in. The nurse started me on some new anti-sickness tablets today which seems to have helped, but I still have a dizzy headache.

I’m glad to say that the end is in sight and though I appreciate the work of the nurses and doctors, there are a lot of things about this experience that I will not be reminiscing over.

I’m looking forward to getting back to my painting.

Day 66-78 recovery

robinbtaylor Cancer, Chemotherapy, Diagnosis and symptoms, Health, Leukaemia, Lymphoma , , ,

It’s been over a week now since I left hospital, and apart from a few visits from friends, family and nurses, I’ve spent most of the time resting and playing.

After leaving the hospital, my body crashed and I spend the first I few days lying down and watching telly. With a spinning head and pains from my fingers and throughout my body, there wasn’t much more I could do other than sleep. Even watching the telly was uncomfortable at times and sleeping seemed to be a good way to hide the time away. The addition of diarrhoea was not a welcome entry to my symptom list.

On Tuesday (day 71) I had a brief meeting with the consultant who said that everything seemed to be going to plan. And that as soon as my blood had recovered I could go back into hospital for the final round. Being optimistic, I was hoping that it could start the following Monday (yesterday) and the doctor arranged for my blood results to be monitored in case my body bounced back quicker than she expected. Before I had time to call up and check my blood results yesterday afternoon, I had a call from the hospital asking me to come in ready to start treatment. Although I was not looking forward to another 10 days in hospital, a glimpse of the end put me in a good mood.

Just as I settle in to the routine of a 6am start, and hours of sitting around staring at the wall the doctor arrived. Apparently there had been a miscommunication of my results and although my neutrophil levels were up to 3.4 on Wednesday, they had dropped back to 0.2 this morning meaning that I’m back in neutropenia and that another onslaught of Chemo is dangerous at this point.

So having packed up my belongings again, I’m ready to return home to sit out my internal recovery.

I think this has been the biggest theme of my recovery so far, apart from the waiting, it seems that yo-yo-ing between home and hospital with barely hours to prepare and plan, let alone days has been quite a struggle for my mental stability. I desperately want to start planning the rest of my life, but I don’t even know where I’ll be in 3-5 days time let alone know how my body is going to respond at each stage.

unfortunately it seems that forecasting isn’t something that the NHS does very well.

On a lighter note

My new patterned finger nails seem to be coming on nicely. Luckily stripes coordinate well into my current wardrobe, although it would be better if they had more vibrant colours.

Stripy finger nails
Stripy finger nails