a good weekend

I had a good weekend. Better than previous ‘chemo weekends’. I still had to have a nap on both Saturday and Sunday, but the anti-nausea drugs didn’t seem to stuff me about as much as previous times and I generally felt better.

Only a few days left before I should feel normal, and for an extended period this time. Still need to clarify the exact time between the end of chemo and the start of radiotherapy, but it should be 6 weeks which will push me over New Years.

Anyways, it’s sunny (a rare occurrence in Melbourne recently) and I need some vitamin D!

a very long day

The day started abruptly. We were having breakfast at around 08:00 and I just happened to read my appointment for the day again. For some reason the chemotherapy appointment had been rescheduled for 08:30, when it is usually at 09:30.

We quickly got a cab and managed to make it to the hospital on time at 08:30. On time for what, i’m not really sure. The hospital was still opening at that time. Nobody was ready for me. We arrived before my usual Chemotherapy nurse arrived.

I was taken to the chair and the wait for the drugs began. It was 11am before I started the Chemotherapy treatment!

To make matters worse, the drug which takes the longest to administer (Dacarbazine) had some issues with my vein today. Usually this drug takes 1 hour to completely administer, however this time (and only this time!) my vein really started to hurt. Usually the nurse gives me a heat pack to put over my arm which helps the flow of blood, but today that wasn’t helping either… The solution was to dilute the drug with saline, and slow the IV pump.. The result was that it took 2 hours to administer this single drug! ๐Ÿ™

I was in the chair for near 6 hours today… Just as well today was the last Chemotherapy session!!!

last one!

Been awhile since I posted anything. This is because I haven’t had much to say.

My last cycle of Chemotherapy was quite good, the Tuesday after the Chemo was my worst day and like the other cycles I felt much better on the Thursday. Wednesday was still a bad day, but not as bad as previous cycles. I had a few bouts of blurry vision and problems with my taste, but again – not as bad as previous weeks.

Heres hoping that my next and ultimate chemo session (tomorrow) will be the same.

Marika and I finally went out last night to celebrate the news of my previous post (remission). We went out to a Swiss restaurant and I had for the first time in 3 months, pork & beer. I had one glass of beer and I was still feeling the effects of it this morning! Amazing how the body reacts to this stuff when you don’t have it for period!

Remission!

I had my second last Chemo yesterday (5th of 6 total). But before that I had a quick consult with my haematologist. The lung test I had done on Thursday was fine, no damage to my lungs from the Chemo and even more exciting was the results from the PET scan show that the cancer has gone into complete remission. I was shown before and after pictures and it is a very nice feeling not seeing any ‘black bits’ on the after picture ๐Ÿ™‚

Marika and I will be celebrating this news by going out to dinner and along with a beer when I feel a bit better, as i’m now recovering from the chemo. I have not had any alcohol since I was diagnosed back in August, so looking forward to that!

Lung test

Went in today to have a lung function test. This is required to determine if there has been any damage to the lungs from the Chemotherapy (from the drug bleomycin). I’ve had this test before, before starting Chemotherapy. One study showed that lung damage occurred in 20% of patients receiving treatment withย bleomycin! :/

I’ll find out the results tomorrow for this one…

PET scan

Went in for my PET scan today (Positron emission tomography for those that really want to know). It’s not a bad test really. I have to fast from midnight the night before, and there is a needle involved – however, the needle is a shot of glucose and then you get to lie down for 1 hour! Then you get up and lie down in the machine for another 20 minutes. I’ve never really complained about lying down ๐Ÿ™‚

The results will be available on Friday before my next chemo starts. Fingers crossed we hear ‘remission’ on Friday.

Getting there…

I had a bad few days this week, but I think my body has recovered from my of the Chemo from this session. I have noticed a few small bruises on my body in seemingly random places, wondering if this is one of the ways the body deals the effects of toxic Chemo they give me.

I went for a walk yesterday, South Yarra to Richmond and back (Not a great distance – around 4km total). After returning I felt really tired. My body isn’t used to moving! Feeling tired is sooo much better than feeling fatigued though. If I had to choose, I love feeling tired!

I was meant to have a planning meeting with my radiotherapist today, however that meeting has been cancelled/postponed until after my Chemotherapy treatment.

Chemo: Day 43

Had the 4th session of Chemo yesterday. Was okay… A bit of a delay with the drugs, so was waiting in the chair for a while with an IV that was doing nothing ๐Ÿ™

Anyway, all is over – for now.

Other news is that I have a few bookings lined up in the future.

This Friday I have a planning meeting with my Radiologist. I’m not too sure what this will entail at this point.

Wednesday week I have a PET scan booked in. The results of which should be ready 2 days after, which will be the morning of my next Chemotherapy day. The results of this test hopefully will show the cancer has gone into remission, fingers crossed!

I also have a breathing test booked in for Thursday week, the results of which will be compared to my baseline test performed before the Chemotherapy started. This is done to ensure that no damage has been caused to my lungs from the Chemotherapy drugs, again fingers crossed I guess!

I’m still here

I had a few crap days this week. The fatigue really gets me down. As of yesterday though I haven’t needed to sleep during the day, which trust me is a good thing!

Heading into the ‘take it easy’ phase of the cycle now, as my blood counts are now at their lowest I am always fearful of doing too much – and I feel like I should be doing things, as the past few days I have not been doing anything :/

It’s all about balance I guess.

Chemotherapy: 1/3 complete, or 1/2 complete ?

I am having 3 months of Chemotherapy, getting jabbed in the hand and pumped with drugs through an IV every 2 weeks. I have so far had 3 sessions of this process. Therefore, one could say that 3 out of 6 is 50% completed. However, unfortunately the process of administration is only part of the story. As it takes my body around a week to recover the other way to look at it is based on time. As I started my Chemotherapy on September 9th, and today being October 9th – that’s 4 weeks out of 12 weeks (1/3 complete).

Either way, it’s a another milestone regardless and if its only 33% complete then it won’t be much longer till its 50% complete ๐Ÿ™‚