Monday, 17 December 2012
The last week has passed in a blur. To
catch up - Thursday I went home laden with antibiotics and hand
sanitiser. My appointment at Guys for my chemo on Friday was
postponed to Tuesday. I went to bed.
On Saturday I got up a bit and then on Sunday made it to the pub for lunch via a little walk across the fields. Curly Friend and her gorgeous man jumped on a train from London and joined us. I took Monday easy and prepared myself for Tuesday.
An uneventful train ride thankfully followed by blood tests on arrival. Then I had to pop down to the Breast Unit to have a small lump examined. They are confident that it is just scar tissue and the consultation gave us a chance to discuss the coming months.
This is my last dose of the FEC part of the FEC-T Chemo. The next three will be a different drug combined with the first three of a year's three weekly dose of Herceptin. The side effects will be much the same for the rest of the chemo but I am also due to swell considerably.
After the Chemo has finished I will have a month to recover before the next bout of surgery starts. I am having a mastectomy and reconstruction on my right breast and a full axillary clearance on the lymph nodes on my left armpit - this is the next really scary part for me. Waiting for the pathologists report on those nodes will be very difficult.
Following the surgery I will then have radiotherapy on my chest, armpits and neck area. Obviously if the nodes show more cancer spreading than this area may increase. I knew all this already but it was a sobering reminder, on an already wobbly morning, of what's yet to come.
Then we had a couple of hours to kill while my blood was assessed. We popped in to the genetics department to discuss my family history a little further. I have not yet been put forward for the gene testing on the NHS which would show if I carry the BRACA 1 or 2 gene. Its a very expensive process to do privately so one I'm keen to get sorted out. It will make no difference to my future but If I'm shown to carry either gene it will mean My sister and family will also be tested, giving them more of a choice if they also carry it.
Then we went out for some lunch. All went quite smoothly until it was time to return to the hospital. I just couldn't do it. I started an argument from nothing and then ran. I wish I could say I ran and ran but the truth is I only managed about 100 yards before I nearly passed out. I'm not going to go on about it but walking somewhere to have something done to you that you know is going to be painful, make you vomit and take a week away from you, leaving the discomfort and illness behind is extremely difficult and gets harder every time.
We got there, with me snivelling and shaking just in time to see Jeremy Hunt touring the Cancer Day Unit. I had no energy left to mount the kind of campaign I would have liked and made do with fierce looks and scowls in his general direction.
The treatment went fine, helped by the first episode of Downton Abbey preloaded on my ipad. They've upped my anti sickness again (unsuccessfully I'm afraid) and now I also have the added pleasure of being injected in the stomach every day by my wonderful Nurse/Husband. This is to stimulate my bone marrow into producing more white blood cells.
The only good news from the whole day was that my next treatment has been moved from the 28th December to the 2nd January. I know this pushes everything back a but but at least gives me a proper Christmas.
On Saturday I got up a bit and then on Sunday made it to the pub for lunch via a little walk across the fields. Curly Friend and her gorgeous man jumped on a train from London and joined us. I took Monday easy and prepared myself for Tuesday.
An uneventful train ride thankfully followed by blood tests on arrival. Then I had to pop down to the Breast Unit to have a small lump examined. They are confident that it is just scar tissue and the consultation gave us a chance to discuss the coming months.
This is my last dose of the FEC part of the FEC-T Chemo. The next three will be a different drug combined with the first three of a year's three weekly dose of Herceptin. The side effects will be much the same for the rest of the chemo but I am also due to swell considerably.
After the Chemo has finished I will have a month to recover before the next bout of surgery starts. I am having a mastectomy and reconstruction on my right breast and a full axillary clearance on the lymph nodes on my left armpit - this is the next really scary part for me. Waiting for the pathologists report on those nodes will be very difficult.
Following the surgery I will then have radiotherapy on my chest, armpits and neck area. Obviously if the nodes show more cancer spreading than this area may increase. I knew all this already but it was a sobering reminder, on an already wobbly morning, of what's yet to come.
Then we had a couple of hours to kill while my blood was assessed. We popped in to the genetics department to discuss my family history a little further. I have not yet been put forward for the gene testing on the NHS which would show if I carry the BRACA 1 or 2 gene. Its a very expensive process to do privately so one I'm keen to get sorted out. It will make no difference to my future but If I'm shown to carry either gene it will mean My sister and family will also be tested, giving them more of a choice if they also carry it.
Then we went out for some lunch. All went quite smoothly until it was time to return to the hospital. I just couldn't do it. I started an argument from nothing and then ran. I wish I could say I ran and ran but the truth is I only managed about 100 yards before I nearly passed out. I'm not going to go on about it but walking somewhere to have something done to you that you know is going to be painful, make you vomit and take a week away from you, leaving the discomfort and illness behind is extremely difficult and gets harder every time.
We got there, with me snivelling and shaking just in time to see Jeremy Hunt touring the Cancer Day Unit. I had no energy left to mount the kind of campaign I would have liked and made do with fierce looks and scowls in his general direction.
The treatment went fine, helped by the first episode of Downton Abbey preloaded on my ipad. They've upped my anti sickness again (unsuccessfully I'm afraid) and now I also have the added pleasure of being injected in the stomach every day by my wonderful Nurse/Husband. This is to stimulate my bone marrow into producing more white blood cells.
The only good news from the whole day was that my next treatment has been moved from the 28th December to the 2nd January. I know this pushes everything back a but but at least gives me a proper Christmas.
No comments:
Post a Comment