The parents and I went in as normal this morning after a wonderful breakfast at Belle & Herbs to kickstart the day. Had my cannula put in pretty quickly and my bloods were taken while we were waiting for the chemo drugs to be made up. UNFORTUNATELY it turns out that my white cells have decided to take a kamikaze nosedive and are now at something like 2 (instead of 3.97 as on Monday). My neutrophils in particular – which have to be at 1 for chemo to go ahead – are now 0.651, rendering me stupidly neutropenic….and thus wide open to infections oh the joy! So chemo #2 is off until this recovers (WCC above 3, and neutrophils above 1).
This is a perfectly normal complication, apparently; and to bring my white cells back up I have to have “G injections”, i.e. Granulocyte-stimulating Colony Factor, if my memory serves me correctly. Had an interesting insight into the life of a diabetic today, being taught how to inject myself (OW it hurts! Like a bee sting). I need to give myself 2 more injections, tomorrow and Saturday, which should hopefully poke that pesky count back up. The chemo has been rescheduled to next Tuesday.
The v.v.v.v. irritating part about this is that I am supposed to be going on holiday to Wales with the family (sans Tim of course who is in Japan and seems to be having a good time *waves*) next week for a nice relaxing Easter holiday – I know, not exactly the Maldives, but we like it….But now because of this we have to work out how the hell to get back to Newcastle halfway through the holiday, and how to get back, and whether to bother going on holiday at all. Dad may be having to drive me on a 600-mile round trip - eeeek! I am bloody fed up of cancer trying to fuck around with my life. Goddammit.
Profanities aside (sorry...), am trying to look on the good side of all this – at least I shall have a healthy appetite for my Easter egg on Sunday, instead of being vaguely nauseated by everything.
In the slightly longer-term: the parentals want me to move back to Nottingham for treatment, instead of having to bounce back and forth between two cities. I can see where they’re coming from: it will be much easier for them to support me if I’m at home. But I still feel like clinging to Newcastle like a stubborn wee leech – all my friends are up here and I like the doctors and nurses…AND I’m still paying rent on the house!! We shall see how it goes.
P.S. My hair is starting to fall out. It looks like we have a golden retriever in the car….don’t worry, nothing drastic like CLUMPS, but there is definitely more hair coming out than the usual one or two strands. Must stop pulling compulsively at it – makes me feel vaguely sick. :S
Off to scream into a pillow.
When cancer fucks with your life, fuck with the cancer right back girl! Hang in there. I hope you have a beautiful Easter!
ReplyDelete~D
I'm sorry about the frustrations with your vacation. I know how incredibly annoying it is to have to reschedule your life around medical treatments. Happy Easter!
ReplyDeleteRachel
Arg that is so annoying! I hope they go back up quickly. Do you reckon you're gonna go to Wales now then? Oh btw please eat some Easter egg for me coz they don't have Easter over here :-( tim xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
ReplyDeleteHi Roz, Just read your blog for the first time (actually I have to admit this is the first time I have read anyone's blog being more of a notelet girl myself!). I spoke to your Mum earlier in the week and heard about your rotton illness. I am sorry this means a disruption to your studies and to life in general. I am sure its a pain in the arse (actually that's prboably one area of your body you are not having trouble with!) but I feel sure you will conquer it and get back on track just as soon as possible. I will keep reading (blogging, nosing - whatever the word is) if I may to see how you are getting on. I hope you all have a nice Easter, whether or not you get to Wales. Take care, keep positive,keep being happy. Lots of love from Jane and the rest of the Snowdens.
ReplyDeleteoh that's crap, mum and I just thought we'd have a look as you've not been on MSN for a bit (or I've been online at the wrong times to catch up).
ReplyDeleteMum and I had a disasterous holiday in Whitby as she had food poisoning and my Uncle had to med-evac us at the crack of dawn. We're all thinking about you and send lots of love to you and your family!
xxxx
Chris & Judith.
Ah Roz, that sucks. I really hope you've gone to Wales. As I said in my text, I firmly believe it will be a blow in the side to the Hodge (with daggers and whatnot). I know that's not exactly how it works but in my mind it does. And re moving back to Notts - you're much closer to me and I can come visit you anytime you like. In fact, even when I'm in London, I think the last stop on the London-Leicester line is Notts so I won't even need to change trains when I am in London!
ReplyDeleteHi Roz,
ReplyDeleteI just came across your blog while searching online for Hodgkin's Lymphoma, and I just wanted to say that you're an inspiration for people like myself, who have just been diagnosed with Hodgkin's. You have such a positive attitude and you seem to be handling the situation so brilliantly, and I'm sure you will get through this in no time! Like you, I was just diagnosed and I will start chemotherapy next week. I also went straight to the hairdresser to cut my hair after I was diagnosed, although after reading your blog and your gorgeous hair I wish I had been a bit braver and gone for a Marilyn Monroe or something similar too! :-)
Anyway, I just wanted to say that thanks for writing a blog like this - your positivity and courage is inspirational and I will do my best to be as brave as you!
Best of luck with the treatment and the white blood cells, and I hope you had a lovely Easter.
Kind regards,
Helene
What a lot of lovely comments to cheer me up! I think they worked :) and Helene thank you for your comment: I want to wish you the best of luck with your treatment too. If you ever want to chat or rant about dacarbazine then you can email me at rosalindjane88@googlemail.com.
ReplyDelete