Chemotherapy #3

Friday 23rd March 2012

It's been a week since Chemo #3 and now I'm only just about getting around to post about it, slacking!

So how did it go this time?

Well it was similar to #2 but far less aggressive.  My real problem is the allergic reaction that we believe Oxaliplatin gives me, the oncologist believed that this would be solved by a large dose of antihistamines and hyrdocortisone prior to the infusion which was also extended from 2 to 3 hours.  A slower infusion is sometimes used to reduce the side effects.  As well as my daily Clexane injections I now have a 3 day course of G-CSF injections between each cycle to prevent Neutropenia. The injections aren't bad and as long as they keep my white blood cells at an acceptable level that suits me.  The last thing I want is a nasty infection to prevent me from pushing through these horrible chemo sessions!

Chemo day was quite long due to delays in getting the treatment started and we got home at about 7pm that evening. The usual symptoms had started, hands ceasing up, muscle twitching, pins and needles and the cold sensation in my fingers and toes but these are fairly manageable if not a little annoying.  After avoiding food most of the day to prevent any chemo sickness I was quite hungry but decided to play it safe with soup and bread for dinner.

After waiting for a couple of hours to see if any of the allergic reactions would kick in, I began to feel quite tired, counted myself lucky and went to bed at 10.30pm......

....then 1am came around.  I'd been dozing on and off but then quite suddenly the chills and aching legs had started. I woke Paul up, "I feel really sick". A few seconds later I was violently sick, I'd felt quite pleased with myself for being prepared with a sick bowl next to the bed as there was no way I was making it to the bathroom.  The sickness carried on for about 10 minutes, Paul got me to drink some water when I'd finally stopped but that came back up again.  Gross.

When I'd stopped throwing up a couple of minutes later, I did feel better but I noticed I was feeling hot, very hot again.  Paul was already on the phone to the oncology unit at the QA and I checked my temperature.  39.2C (102F), oh dear...back to the fever again.  As Paul talked to the nurse, I was popping another antihistamine and paracetamol to help bring my temperature down and stop the allergic reaction in it's tracks.  

Paul and I decided (along with the nurse of course) to monitor my temperature over the next hour with the help of the paracetamol, antihistamine and many pints of water to see if this alone would help without me being admitted into hospital, again, in the middle of the night.

So over the next hour, every 10 minutes Paul took my temperature and slowly but surely it was getting lower and lower, but it was still above the magical 38C (hospital time) temperature.  We called the oncology ward again for further advice and were told that if I was feeling better to keep drinking plenty of water and monitor my temperature as it was going the right way, in the interim, a bed was being prepared for me just in case.  The 10 minute interval temperature taking took us to 4am, where finally it was back down to an acceptable level.

It felt like an achievement to keep me out of hospital this time, we decided to get a bit of sleep, setting the alarm for 5am to check my temperature and make any decisions then.  The alarm sounded almost as soon as it was set it seemed and I was tested again, all seemed ok.  More sleep.  7am, temperature was still ok.

It was a long night but I'd dodged the hospital admittance.  After all that excitement, I was exhausted and slept almost solidly until 6pm Saturday night.  I felt so much better for it.

That's about as eventful as the last week has been thankfully.   I've mainly been in a chemo induced slumber for much of this week, only today have I had some energy.  With the nice weather this weekend, I'm going to make the most of it before round #4 next Friday.  That's a third of the way through chemo!

I will be having a "break" after the 6th chemo session.  By break, I mean 5 weeks of 5 days a week radiotherapy.  The radiotherapy is to prevent anything from coming back from the spot where the tumour was, in the surgeons words, "throwing everything they can at me" to ensure the cancer doesn't return.

Hayley x