http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNQRfBAzSzo
Chemo #4 done whoop whoop! Which means I am definitely halfway and maybe even 2/3 finished! So far I'm having 3 cycles/6 treatment sessions. One cycle = 2 treatments, on day 1 and day 15. (This last one was cycle 2, treatment 2). If the PET scan isn't clear after Cycle 3, I get another cycle (2 more treatments) and then some radiotherapy.
If the PET scan is clear (keep those fingers crossed peeps!) I get randomised to one of two treatment arms of the trial I'm in: no further treatment, or some radiotherapy. I really am not keen on the idea of radiotherapy but I know I need to find out more about it before I decide to leave the trial and flee the country screaming.
The chemo on Monday went OK (more lovely visitors in the form of: Lydia, Shal, Mel, Jane, Jen, Jenny, Minti, Rachel, Christine and Emily) and was quite short this time. Only 6.5 hours! Got home safely by train with mother. Spurned dinner and went straight for the hot bath, as was all hot and shivery - you know like when you get flu? Also was moving like a small hunchbacked old woman - v. slowly and slightly demented. Bath was nice but nearly fell asleep in it and drowned self. Fortunately for this blog I woke up in time and dragged my butt out and into some pyjamas. Then lay on sofa in duvet watching that Channel 4 adoption programme which made me cry. I was feeling really quite feverish but if knew if I took the blanket off I would freeze so I lay there and sweated quietly. Mother sent me to bed by 10pm which meant I woke up stupidly early (6.30) but remedied matters by falling asleep again until 10am.
Next morning I felt much better - think that was the usual acute side effect of bleomycin. As well as that, I'm getting the usual loss of appetite and difficulty distinguishing between hunger and nausea, but Ondansetron is still my best friend...The hair is starting to shed a little faster but we'll see how that goes. My hair loss seems to be quite a gradual process (well apart from the mass exodus of my follicles in Wales). I have been more tired than usual.
It's a bit like being hungover, minus the headache: a slight sickened feeling that no food or Innocent smoothie can put right, and a vague disinterestedness in the world. I feel BLEH. Sorry to fall back on that even though I said I wouldn't in my last post, but it seriously seems to be the only way to describe it. You really wouldn't have thought just feeling bleh would stop you from doing much but boy I am suddenly v. glad I'm taking time out of medicine. By now I would probably have been slapped by several patients for falling asleep while taking their histories, or just staring at them with a dazed expression, or whatever. It would be OK if I was doing a course you could do part-time (e.g. 3 days off, 10 days on) but medicine, particularly 3rd year, isn't like that...*sigh*.
Soooo to summarise I have not been feeling too hot over the last couple of days. I think the side-effects start to compound as chemo goes on - i.e. it takes longer to get over the tiredness, and it is a little more obtrusive. That said, it didn't stop me turning cartwheels on the lawn with Isobel yesterday evening - to the detriment of my back today. And my bottom. Ouch.
Today though I am pretty achey so I might just go and watch Legally Blonde. Sorry if this post sounds a bit grumpy - I will be better tomorrow!
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