What a week

Last week I had 3 nights in hospital with febrile neutropenia, just as I was losing my hair from first chemo, feeling terrible with my partner interstate for 3 weeks and all my friends away for the long weekend. This week I adopted a cat, went back to work and had my second chemo. Too busy!

When I got home on Saturday, my neighbour told me she is moving interstate and giving up her cats to a shelter. Monty, a 10 year old black and white short hair, is the friendliest cat I have ever known and has been part of our lives since he was half-grown.  We don’t have pets of our own but he pretty much lives in our garden, so I phoned my partner and we agreed to take him. This meant a whole lot of chasing around to get a cat door installed in an awkward to fit glass-panelled door, organise ownership transfers with the Council and microchip register, get the right cat food and cat brush etc., and introduce Monty to his new home, none of which seemed simple – though maybe that is just because of my foggy chemo brain.

Then Tuesday was my first day back to work after 12 weeks off recovering from mastectomy, TRAM reconstruction and starting chemo.  I had been very anxious about this, particularly with my newly bald head, but I managed to work out a stylish way to tie scarves, got lots of compliments on my new look and was made to feel very welcome back. By the second day I was feeling really good about being in my normal workplace again, doing normal things. But not for long …

Thursday was my second FEC chemo treatment. My partner decided to come home earlier than planned given all the excitement on the home front, so he arrived back just in time to pick me up, which was fantastic. I got a Neulasta injection to give myself the next day (Friday) to boost my blood counts.

I have also booked in to have a port inserted on Monday, as one of the least pleasant parts of my hospital stay was being stabbed countless times in an unsuccessful attempt to insert a replacement I/V line for antibiotics, as my veins are already packing up. I have 9 chemo treatments to go so a port seems like a good plan.

So now I am home recovering from my second chemo, which seems to be hitting me harder than the first, hoping that the cat settles in, hoping the Neulasta works so that my blood counts stay good enough for me to risk a planned trip to Tasmania in week 3 of this cycle, hoping the port insertion works OK on Monday, and hoping that I can get back to work for the rest of next week as planned.

No wonder I am feeling drained today. Time to put my feet up, I think.

This is a rant more than questions, but if anyone can tell me how long it takes to feel OK after a port is inserted I would be grateful. Mine is scheduled to go in at 9 am Monday under sedation, not a general anaesthetic. Will I be able to work from home Monday afternoon, and go back to the office Tuesday or is that pushing myself too hard?
Viv xxx