Ramping up for chemo
Finally, on Thursday, the letter explaining my chemo schedule arrived. Firstly, it had a 'treatment education' appointment on it, for two days previously. Just as well I've had chemo before, eh?! And it had a chemo clinic appointment on it for Friday, so a quick rearrangement of my appointments and I was ready to go. I had hoped to get some work done around the appointment, but I didn't, so ended up taking the day off. I feel more relaxed knowing that I'm not taking the mickey with the amount of time off, and I have TONS of annual leave. Giving some back.
At my appointment, the oncology nurse, Lesley, said that I would definitely be having 4 treatments (Yay!), and those would be of docetaxel/taxotere and cyclophoshamide. This second one was news. Teresa had talked about carboplatin, not this one. But Lesley said she'd made enquiries, talked to some others and the decision was just 4 treatments, but to include this drug. Lesley says most people tolerate this one quite well, and the side effects explained on the Macmillan site seem to pretty much be the same as the docetaxel, so it doesn't appear to add new, hideous effects!
I signed the consent form and she went through all the risks, and explained about needing to have the steroids on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I'll also have a district nurse to visit on the Saturday to give me the pegfilgrastim injection 24 hours after the chemo. This helps your white blood cells start to recover. I asked if I could give this one to myself (in a fold of fat in your tummy), and she said that would be fine, but let the nurse do the first one. This drug stimulates bone marrow, so can cause aches and pains in the hips and thighs. Apparently the steroids will mask some of that pain, but by Sunday evening I might be feeling achy. So I am expecting to have Monday at home. Working, if I am feeling up to it. Resting, if I am not.
I'm probably most worried about two things. Firstly, finding a vein. I really, really hope I don't have to have a Picc line put in. And secondly, bouncing off the walls due to having too many steroids. Twice a day for 3 days. Last time, when I had everything I was prescribed, I was awake at 4am and eating like a horse. Hmm, not sure I want either of those to happen! But I'll take what I'm told to and see how it goes.
This appointment counts as my pre-chemo check, so my bloods were taken, but I'm not expected to have any problems before next Friday (2nd Feb) when the first treatment begins. Last time, the hospital were trialing a 'do it all in one day' regime, where you had your bloods taken, checked and then treatment delivered all in one day. This was great for me, as I only had to travel on one day. I asked about it, but Lesley said it caused chaos for them. Getting the blood results back took too long, people were hanging around all day (I do recall it being very busy and chaotic), and if your bloods were low everything had to be rearranged anyway.
So now, I'll have to have a check 36 hours before the treatment day. If I want that check at Nevill Hall in Abergavenny, I have to meet with Lesley on the Friday a week before treatment, and then go back the following Wednesday for bloods, and then back again on the Friday treatment day. Gahhhh. No. Too much time out. So we agreed I would go to Velindre on the Tuesday before treatment for clinic and bloods in one go, and she got my first appointment booked there and then. 8.30am, so I can fit it in before heading to Bristol for work. Sorted. Hopefully I can get the other two booked like that too.
In the meantime, we had a nice weekend away at Daisy Bank Touring site with the caravan. We ended up leaving a little later than I had hoped, but it is only 1.5 hours away, and luckily the site manager was OK with us arriving at 7.45pm. Apart from more troubles with the battery, which allows the self-leveling system to work (hooking up to the mains and letting the battery charge a little got enough juice to get the feet down, thankfully), we had lovely time.
Saturday was aqueduct-hunting, and trying to maintain our low carb diet. We just about managed. Chocolate is allowed, yeah?
So there we are. Ready to go. Just a week of work to get through now.
At my appointment, the oncology nurse, Lesley, said that I would definitely be having 4 treatments (Yay!), and those would be of docetaxel/taxotere and cyclophoshamide. This second one was news. Teresa had talked about carboplatin, not this one. But Lesley said she'd made enquiries, talked to some others and the decision was just 4 treatments, but to include this drug. Lesley says most people tolerate this one quite well, and the side effects explained on the Macmillan site seem to pretty much be the same as the docetaxel, so it doesn't appear to add new, hideous effects!
I signed the consent form and she went through all the risks, and explained about needing to have the steroids on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I'll also have a district nurse to visit on the Saturday to give me the pegfilgrastim injection 24 hours after the chemo. This helps your white blood cells start to recover. I asked if I could give this one to myself (in a fold of fat in your tummy), and she said that would be fine, but let the nurse do the first one. This drug stimulates bone marrow, so can cause aches and pains in the hips and thighs. Apparently the steroids will mask some of that pain, but by Sunday evening I might be feeling achy. So I am expecting to have Monday at home. Working, if I am feeling up to it. Resting, if I am not.
I'm probably most worried about two things. Firstly, finding a vein. I really, really hope I don't have to have a Picc line put in. And secondly, bouncing off the walls due to having too many steroids. Twice a day for 3 days. Last time, when I had everything I was prescribed, I was awake at 4am and eating like a horse. Hmm, not sure I want either of those to happen! But I'll take what I'm told to and see how it goes.
This appointment counts as my pre-chemo check, so my bloods were taken, but I'm not expected to have any problems before next Friday (2nd Feb) when the first treatment begins. Last time, the hospital were trialing a 'do it all in one day' regime, where you had your bloods taken, checked and then treatment delivered all in one day. This was great for me, as I only had to travel on one day. I asked about it, but Lesley said it caused chaos for them. Getting the blood results back took too long, people were hanging around all day (I do recall it being very busy and chaotic), and if your bloods were low everything had to be rearranged anyway.
So now, I'll have to have a check 36 hours before the treatment day. If I want that check at Nevill Hall in Abergavenny, I have to meet with Lesley on the Friday a week before treatment, and then go back the following Wednesday for bloods, and then back again on the Friday treatment day. Gahhhh. No. Too much time out. So we agreed I would go to Velindre on the Tuesday before treatment for clinic and bloods in one go, and she got my first appointment booked there and then. 8.30am, so I can fit it in before heading to Bristol for work. Sorted. Hopefully I can get the other two booked like that too.
In the meantime, we had a nice weekend away at Daisy Bank Touring site with the caravan. We ended up leaving a little later than I had hoped, but it is only 1.5 hours away, and luckily the site manager was OK with us arriving at 7.45pm. Apart from more troubles with the battery, which allows the self-leveling system to work (hooking up to the mains and letting the battery charge a little got enough juice to get the feet down, thankfully), we had lovely time. Saturday was aqueduct-hunting, and trying to maintain our low carb diet. We just about managed. Chocolate is allowed, yeah?
So there we are. Ready to go. Just a week of work to get through now.
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