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The misadventures of chemo
ive decided to document some of my misadventures on chemo after my efforts yesterday - I sank (literally) to an all time low.
yesterday my big idiot was running in a charity run around our local river with his school and one of the local girls schools. Tradition dictates that you go watch them run their last lap (they run the 4.2km circuit 37 times over 12 hours in year level groups). So I do the right thing and go but I’d been off all day.
Anyway sitting there chatting to another mum and had just told her my diagnosis and were discussing where I’m at. Next thing I know I’m like I really need to sit on the floor yep you guessed it I was about to faint. Sank to the ground still semi upright and realised that was still not good and had to lie down flat on the ground head half in a gutter cause I was about to vomit. Omg worst feeling ever. Felt so sorry for this poor mum and who only knows what anyone else thought of this crazy woman dry retching half passed out!
chemo the gift that keeps on giving
yesterday my big idiot was running in a charity run around our local river with his school and one of the local girls schools. Tradition dictates that you go watch them run their last lap (they run the 4.2km circuit 37 times over 12 hours in year level groups). So I do the right thing and go but I’d been off all day.
Anyway sitting there chatting to another mum and had just told her my diagnosis and were discussing where I’m at. Next thing I know I’m like I really need to sit on the floor yep you guessed it I was about to faint. Sank to the ground still semi upright and realised that was still not good and had to lie down flat on the ground head half in a gutter cause I was about to vomit. Omg worst feeling ever. Felt so sorry for this poor mum and who only knows what anyone else thought of this crazy woman dry retching half passed out!
chemo the gift that keeps on giving
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- So today I was getting a manicure and taking off the last sns one and we realised my two thumb nails have lifted. Tech has cut them super short and glued down the edges and we are trying a false tip on them as well.
Chemo just continues to give
hopefully now I’m 3 months on my nails will grow reasonably quickly(my hair is!) and I will be through this ugly phase as well
toenails have been re shellacked and seem to be going better with less ugly lines - @kmakm yep agree on the asterisk definitely sucky
other funny was from my oncologist when he said that I look really good now. Felt like pointing out the obvious of you’re no longer shoving poison into me that makes me so sick for half the treatment cycle, so sick I can’t work so mentally I’m not doing well not to even mention the non stop constant indigestion and runs that need medicating to stop it. You also can’t win on the weight thing either last time I’d put on 5 kgs (ones I definitely didn’t need but I was very swollen with fluid) so got a bit of a telling off this time I’ve lost them partly through resting more and managing the fluid and partly through making sure I’m eating better then I copped the are you sure you are eating? You just can’t win - @Sarnicad That's why they call it the 'new normal*'. There should be a bloody great asterisk at the end of that phrase...
*sucky - @Zoffiel the regular breast cancer nurse is on leave atm but her relief was clearly bored today and asked the oncology nurses if there were any breast cancer patients on ward so she came and introduced herself and then dig out some compression stockings for me to try. Reassured me that this is all normal (why does normal have to be sucky? I want normal to be like the old normal not this)
good news on my echocardigram no loss of function! Very very excited by that one
14/30 radiation done today so Monday brings the half way mark and so far just a brown boob to show for it - long may that last
@Blossom1961 hope you are travelling well - @Sarnicad I think we must be sisters. We seem to share the same joy at treatment. All the best.
- Good luck with your scan, it's horrible waiting. In spite of getting an arrythmia during chemo (I reckon at least partly due to A/C), I got through a year of herceptin with no other heart problem and am still stable and fine 5 years later. Best wishes.
- Good luck @Sarnicad It's a veritable moving feast, isn't it?
Elevation is great for reducing swelling but then we are told we should be exercising as well. What option does that leave? Perhaps the Jane Fonda shoulder stand thingies where you pedal upside down? Phfft.
All jokes aside, if the swelling looks like it is '''pitting'' where you can push your finger into it and the dent stays there for any more than a couple of minutes it might pay to get some advice about compression socks and massage to move it. This shit is exhausting. - So the fun continues:
right before my first herceptin on its own treatment my right foot in particular but really both decided to blow up like a balloon so I’ve been combatting that with a bit of lasix when really bad but mainly finding rest and elevation is the answer
today I had my first re scan of my heart since starting the herceptin treatment so now I am a psycho waiting to find out if it has had a detrimental effect on my heart or if all is normal. Scanxiety has me in its grip! - I couldn't get the picture to download. But my veins are very well defined.
- The nurses only take two attempts but the digging around is what I object to. These are my veins before the hot pack gets put on.
