Cancer treatment: week 14

This last week has been a very good week.  A lot of really positive things have been happening.

Although I have been feeling a little under the weather, my taste buds are working well again, my hair has started to grow a bit (at least a quarter of an inch - hmm, where should I part it?) albeit temporarily, my sore PICC line has been sorted and I got a brain scan.  And the best bit of all...I got invited to meet the Belfast Giants.

My sore PICC line 

I mentioned in my last blog about the sore PICC line I had and how I might have something called 'mechanical phlebitis' (see A mini mountain walk and another chemo delay).   Well, I got the line checked out last Friday as things hadn't improved. 

To cut along story short, the infusion services team had a look at it and they concluded that I needed the locking mechanism, which secures the line, removed from inside my arm.  They thought that was what was causing the swelling and pain.  

It was really quite sore when the nurse took the mechanism out.  She then stuck a different locking system (called a 'statlock') onto my skin which the external part of the line was clipped into.  This has helped enormously.  The swelling has subsided and the pain has gone.  What a relief.

My brain scan

I had my appointment for my brain scan to see if I had done any damage after I knocked myself out last month (see Games without Frontiers). Yes, I do have a brain, folks.  I must admit it doesn't work as well as it used to.  I blame the chemo.  'Chemo-brain' is a well known phenomenon amongst cancer patients.

I won't bore you with the details of the scan but this is the third CT scan I've had since diagnosis and I'm getting a bit blasé about them now. They don't scare me at all.  Suffice to say that I had the contrast dye injected into me, lay on the couch where the big doughnut went over my head, and I didn't swear once.   I was in and out in a jiffy.

Meeting the Belfast Giants

Anyone who knows me or has been following my blogs knows that I'm an avid fan of the Belfast Giants ice hockey team.  Now without wishing to bore the pants of anyone who couldn't care less about them or indeed [ice] hockey in general, I've written a specific piece about how I got invited to meet them and what happened when I did.  If you're interested, go to The day I met the Belfast Giants.

Chemo's back on track

My blood results have improved - not hugely but sufficiently - so I was able to get chemo this week.  

I got the new drug (Paclitaxel) yesterday.  So far it has been far gentler on me than the horrible docetaxel which they have now stopped giving me.  

Before I got the drug, I was given steroids and an infusion of anti-histamine to prevent any allergic reaction.  It made me very sleepy and I pretty much slept through the next hour and a half of the treatment.   When I woke up all the other patients had gone and I was the only one left.

I'm also not going to be on steroids as long with this new drug.   Which is nice.  I will however need to get three days of injections to stimulate my white blood cells.  Not so nice.

I'll keep you posted on how this new drug affects me.  Fingers crossed it will be much less harsh.

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Change to my chemo regime

I went to my pre-assessment this morning where they took my bloods and weighed me.  Phew, my weight has stabilised.

I saw an oncologist (I seem to see a different one every time) and told her about my two trips to A&E, including the blood clot in my lung.  Her face was a picture and she kept telling me that I was 'very lucky' and that I must have a good heart and lungs.  I didn't like to ask how lucky, or if I was lucky because I hadn't actually died.   Sometimes it's best not to ask a question you don't really want to know the answer to.

Brain scan

The oncologist is also going to arrange for me to have a brain scan. This is to see whether there was any damage from when I knocked myself out a few weeks ago (see Games Without Frontiers), not to see if I do indeed have a brain.  Many folk do wonder about that.

You know what?  My body will have been checked out thoroughly as a result of having had cancer and going through treatment.  That's got to be a good thing.

Change of drug

Because of the side effects from the docetaxel, I am now going to be switched to weekly chemotherapy on a drug that will seemingly be less harsh on me but just as good.  It's called paclitaxel.  I'll be getting weekly infusions for the next six weeks.  They are also going to try to merge my day for pre-assessment with my chemo day so that I don't have to go two days in a row to the City Hospital.   That will save me making an extra round trip every week and I won't have to hang around for two consecutive days.   Every cloud and all that.

Blood thinning injections

As for the blood thinning injections the oncologist reckons I'm going to be on them every day for six months.  Six months!  My stomach is already starting to look like I've done ten rounds with Floyd Mayweather (he's a boxer, right?).

PICC line

I also got my PICC line put back in today.  I won't tell you exactly what one of my friends with cancer calls the line, but let's just say it rhymes with PICC as in 'PICC the ****'.  She really makes me laugh and is an absolute tonic.  

The nurse who put the line back in jokingly called me a 'sensitive critter' when she did it to me last time (see Second chemo and its aftermath). So I got my own back and took the opportunity to rib her mercilessly today.  Boy, we had some craic.

There was another nurse in with us and we started to talk about holidays and travel when all of a sudden I felt a sharp stab in my left arm.  The nurse had taken the opportunity when I was distracted to inject the local anaesthetic into me.  'Hey, you didn't warn me!' I said.  'Yep, I knew you'd be distracted by talking, you sensitive critter.'  Cheeky.

Sad songs

There was one incident whilst I was waiting between sessions that did upset me a little.  I went into the ladies loo and could hear gentle singing coming from one of the cubicles.  A young woman then emerged, with red rimmed eyes, and apologised to me.  I told her not to worry as it sounded lovely.  'I sing because it's the only thing that stops me from crying,' she said.  I didn't want to pry but she explained that she had been on chemo and radiotherapy.  

My heart just went out to the woman.  I wasn't sure what to say so did my best to reassure her, probably not very successfully.   I felt so sad. 

A week's chemo holiday

This afternoon after I got home, the hospital rang me to say that my white blood cells were far too low to proceed with my pre-planned chemo the next day.  It would be too risky and so they needed to defer my chemo for a week.  Heck.  

On the plus side I am now getting a week off chemo/side effects, my taste buds will hopefully improve further - and most importantly - I should feel well enough to go the Belfast Giants first home league game of the season on Saturday after all.  Get in!

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