I am in hospital. I was admitted last Tuesday after being unwell for a few days. I collapsed on Monday morning and went to see the consultant on tuesday. He admitted me, and I have been here since. They think I have caught a bug and that is what was making me feel unwell. So I am on antibiotics on a drip twice a day now. I am also having anti sickness drugs. I am neutropenic which means that my white blood cells have dropped below a certain level, and I am far more prone to infection. I have had an injection to make me produce more white blood cells but this is taking its time. I am in an isolated room so that I dont get more infected and the staff all have to wear protective aprons and gloves when they come in. I am not allowed out of the room.
Its hard to sleep here and I feel very tired. It seems as soon as I have dropped off, they wake me up to stick needles in me or to take my blood pressure. I have to have horrible injections in my legs every night to stop me from getting blood clots and I have to wear white socks to stop me from getting DVT.
Chris and Mum and Dad come in to see me every day, but because of the infection risk, I dont have anyone else coming. I saw the consultant this morning who said I will be here for a while longer yet. I feel much better than I did before, I have not collapsed again and I no longer feel sick. I have started to eat a bit too.
Hopefully I will be out soon. Its pretty lonely sometimes, and other times I like the peace and quiet. I spend the days mostly reading the paper, watching tv and sleeping. I feel quite weak and do not have much energy.
Cycle 3
I went to work all day on Wednesday and Thursday but last night I was feeling tired, sick and stressed so I didnt go in today. I have been feeling sick all week, ever since the chemo on Monday. I have been to the hospital today and got some new anti sickness tablets called Cyclizine. I have not been able to eat a lot, but managed a salad earlier.
The car also broke, it has not felt right since my little skidding incident the other day, and it turned out the “tracking rod” was bent, so I have also had that fixed. It is quite important apparently.
Chris is playing at a gig tonight, so I am at home resting and will be going to sleep soon….
Cycle 3
I had chemotherapy number 3 on Monday, and it went very quickly as I was on the “accelerated” procedure, which basically means same amount of drugs, but put in quicker. I am an “old hat” at this drugs business now. Dad came with me to keep me company, but I ended up falling asleep anyway for a while. One of the things I have to have before the drugs is Piriton to stop me reacting to the other drugs and I have a double dose straight into my vein, and that is enough to send anyone to sleep!
I came home and opened some lovely presents from Peter, Trish and Melanie (thank you!) which was really nice. Trish – can you believe, the chocolates are UNOPENED at the moment!! That will not last long though….
I felt sick all day yesterday, and stayed in bed. I was not really able to eat a lot, although I managed to force a ham sandwich down at lunch time! I feel better today though and have just managed a fish pie. I am at work today which takes my mind off it a bit.
Some other good news, my bridesmaid and one of my best friends Laura got engaged on Saturday!! Congratulations old chum!!!
Cycle 3
Chris and I went to a pub today with our friend Angela and had a roast dinner, which was very nice. I am having a restful day today as it is chemotherapy number 3 tomorrow.
I am looking forward to tomorrow on one hand because once it is over that is another session out of the way and hopefully I will be half way through, and not looking forward to it on the other hand because it is not very pleasant and I dont feel great afterwards.
I feel pretty fed up a lot of the time now, although the last few days have been a bit more positive. I am fed up with not knowing how I will feel from one day to the next and the impact that has on everything, fed up with the random side effects that seem to pop up at any time, fed up with having a constant runny nose, fed up with not being able to do any exercise, fed up with having to go to bed at 9pm every night no matter what and really fed up with having to wear a wig! But I just keep trying to remind myself that all this is not forever, and one day, life will be back to normal. I am luckier than many people because at least mine is treatable and curable. I also have wonderful support from my family and Chris, who look after me and cheer me up when I feel down in the dumps.
Cycle 2
Today I woke up feeling pretty awful with a bad headache, runny nose and pain in my back where I had the bone marrow. I also felt completely worn out. I went to see the consultant for my pre-chemotherapy meeting and blood test at 9.00 and it all went ok. I told him about the sharp stabbing pains I have been getting in my head, and he basically said that all aches and pains are magnified when you are going through chemotherapy and it was probably nothing to worry about. He had a look in my nose and said that he could not see anything and looked at my back and said that it did not appear to be infected. He said that it can just take time for it to heal inside and described the bone marrow biopsy as “an assault!”. I prefer the other consultant.
Anyway, it all looks ok for Monday and my blood count is ok. I went back to bed when I got home and slept for most of the day. I have a busy day tomorrow and so I need my rest. I cant wait for the weekend when I can sleep more……..
Cycle 2
The sun is shining at the moment, but my journey to work has been plagued by floods so far this week. One of the country roads I usually go on is under eight inches of water, so had to re-route last night and this morning.
I found it quite hard to get up this morning, but this was probably due to going to bed later than usual because I had been out having dinner last night with a few pals I had not seen for a while! It was great fun, we had a good old catch up and it was nice to see everyone again.
I have a lot more energy now, and able to do more things each day such as work longer hours etc. I still leave the office at 4 because driving in the dark still wears me out a bit.
Tomorrow I am off to see my consultant and have a blood test in readiness for chemotherapy session number 3 next Monday. I feel quite well at the moment, the nose bleeds seem to have stopped, as has the permanent runny nose. I am getting strange stabbing pains in my head which can be quite painful but I will ask about these tomorrow.
It is lunchtime now, and I am off to cook my chicken hopot in the microwave!
Cycle 2
Today was a good day, we went to the baptism of our little godson, Bodie Fredrick Ray Morgan. It was lovely, Chris’ dad took the service and then we all went back to Chris’ sister and brother-in-law’s house for some yummy food and cake. To mark the occasion, I have put a photo on the blog (see below)!
Uncategorized
anne, bodie, photo
As I write this, I am sitting in front of a roaring log fire having a nice glass of red wine. This is about as wild as Saturday nights get at the moment!! Saying that, last night I did venture out to a pub for a couple of hours with an old college friend who I had not seen for some years. I was still in bed by 10.30 though!
I feel as though I have much more energy now since coming off the steroids, and I have not woken up in the night for ages. I had an awful week last week with the hospital stay, having a very near miss after the car skidded on the ice and not being able to get to work because of the weather. I also had to have a day off work on Friday because I was not feeling 100%. I still have a very annoying cold which does not seem to go away and this, combined with the nose bleeds is not too pleasant. It is chemotherapy number 3 a week on Monday, it is going quickly thank goodness.
I am looking forward to tomorrow, it is our godson’s baptism, so we are off to church in the morning. In the afternoon, we are going to Mum and Dad’s for afternoon tea, Mum has promised some “home baking”!!
Cycle 2
I was admitted to hospital on Sunday after being sick and passing out in the bathroom at 5am Sunday morning. It was horrible, I went very hot and dizzy and the room was spinning, I felt better when I lay down though but we rang the hospital and they said to come straight in to A & E to be checked. So off we went, got seen straight away and had a private room in A & E! I had blood tests and a chest x-ray and was hooked up to a drip. I nearly passed out again when they tried to get me to sit up in a wheelchair to take me to the x-ray department, and I was getting really worried by this point.
To cut a long story short, I was taken to the emergency assessment unit and the doctors seemed to think I was very dehydrated. I was really thirsty and drank loads of water all the time I was there. I was moved to the gynaecology ward, which is the only place there were any beds, and got chatting to a few people. There was one woman who kept talking loudly and waking everyone up in the night!
On the plus side, I had a chest xray and the tumour in my chest has shrunk a lot and is now about half the size it was. This is a huge relief, as there is no guarantee that the treatment will work, but the fact that since 23rd December, it has reduced so much in size shows that it must be working. This has cheered me up, and I no longer feel so down in the dumps!!
Cycle 2