Chemo prep: drink lots of water the day before. Result: up to bathroom at 130 and 430 in the morning. Couldn't sleep after the second one, so I emailed a friend, and finally felt sleepy at 6am. Waking up from dreams at 730 wasn't fun, but at least being hairless saves me lots of time after my shower. Tried out my new makeup from yesterday's Look Good Feel Better session. May as well try to look my best while getting chemo. (Narcissistic photos attached).
So... I arrived for my 930 chemo session a little early, ate my Bircher museli with raspberries ( Bliss!), was given 1.5litres of IV fluids along with a long-lasting anti-emetic to try to avoid the dehydration and nausea from round 1.
Fiona the chemo-nurse was all set up to give me the "red devil" (looks like raspberry cordial, turns urine pink for a couple of days, and even gave a white shirt pink underarms a couple of weeks after the first treatment). She drew back some blood, and started to slowly push the red liquid through. Then I mentioned I had been put on to cephlexin last night by my surgeon, because the area over my mastectomy scar is still red and swollen near the breastbone.
The area had swollen up prior to my admission last week, went down with IV antibiotics, and came back up again the day after they ceased the IV. Vancomycin. Two different medical officers looked at it on the weekend, and I saw my surgeon yesterday because it wasn't getting better. The skin was a little lumpy, warm to touch, and red. Someone last week said it looked cellulitic, but I didn't worry early in the week because I just didn't have the energy, and the redness went away. I did worry when it came back on Saturday, but none of the doctors seemed worried. Until today. It's apparently redder than before, and the infectious diseases consultant recommended I stop the cephlexin and start Clindamycin. And postpone chemo until next week.
Unfortunately, the new antibiotic has "a higher risk of pseudo membranous colitis from Clostridium overgrowth", so I need to take probiotics.
I'm on so many tablets now, I need to write them all down, and set alerts on my phone. It's a little amusing when well-meaning people ask if I'm taking vitamin c or other supplements. I'm finding it hard enough to keep up with the ones in on, and to exercise, eat healthy food, and rest. Adding more tablets to the mix is a little overwhelming.
Must rest now, my BP is down to 100/70 and I'm dehydrated, despite drinking 3litres of water earlier today for the chemo I never had, having the IV fluids, and 1.5 litres of hydralyte this evening. Time to veg on the couch with my boys.
A blog started in 2013 to inform family and friends about my treatment and progress for early breast cancer. Then I went and got two brain tumours,,both GBMs, completely unrelated to the breast cancer, so the blog continues.
Background and overview
I learnt more about the health system from being an inpatient than I had in 20 years of working as a neuropsychologist. I was unexpectedly diagnosed with two brain tumours on 4/9/13. They turned out to be grade IV Gliomas (glioblastoma multiforme (GBM)). After removal of the right parietal and left occipital tumours, I received the standard treatment under the Stupp protocol (combined Temozolamide (TMZ) and conformal radiotherapy 5 days/week for 6 weeks), but the TMZ had to be ceased after 5 weeks because I had started to develop pancytopenia, where more than one of my blood counts had begun to drop. By Christmas 2013, I had become anaemic and needed a couple of blood transfusions. I ended up in hospital for 3 weeks of the 2014 new year after experiencing my first seizure (suggestive of a right temporal lobe focus) on 31/12/13). They were so worried about my bone marrow, they did a biopsy. Luckily, it was all clear of any nasty disorders. It had just been suppressed by the TMZ My blood counts slowly returned to normal with daily injections of GCSF, which stimulate bone marrow function, for several months. For 17 months I was doing better each day, without any physical impairments or major cognitive problems A third brain tumour was found in the right temporal lobe on 2/1/15, and removed 6/1/15, only to reappear on 17/2/15 after I started to feel vague symptoms at the end of 2014. I had my 4th round of brain surgery on 1/3/15, followed by stereotaxic radio surgery of a residual, inoperable, tumour, on 17/4/15. I've been feeling like my old self again since that highly precise form of radiotherapy, and it feels fabulous.
My way of coping.
I choose to live in hope that everything will work out for the best. I've learnt that even though things are sometimes unpleasant, life and love go on forever. I put my faith in the life force that created and unites us all in love, across all time, space, and dimensions. I refuse to succumb to fear, which is an invention of our imaginations. There are an infinite number of things to fear, both in this world an in our imaginations, and most of them never eventuate. I choose not to dwell on them, and to focus instead on counting my many blessings, current and past, and to have faith and hope that if I look after the present moment, the future will look after itself.
If you're reading, and haven't been in touch, please don't be shy, send me a brief private message using the contact form on the right. It's nice to know who's out there. Blogging can leave me feeling a little isolated at times (I used to have recurrent dreams of being out on a limb over a canyon, or of starting to strip off in a crowded waiting room). Your emails are appreciated, although I can't necessarily answer all of them.
