Hiya,
‘Bout time for an update I thought. Not really much to report on really. I’m just getting my head down with treatment and currently today is Chemo +10 days (Meaning it’s a mere 4 days till treatment 5) I am up and around and able to sit at a computer. I was able to spend the morning playing a few games and doing a bit of online shopping yesterday.
As you get further and further into a treatment cycle, the days of respite get fewer and fewer as you can probably imagine. However, 4 days of normal out of 14 is probably about the bare minimum.
Side effects-wise this week it’s been quite bad.
From about Chemo +4 days onwards I have been experiencing leg and back pain, this combined with the soft tissue bleeding has been really hard to deal with. It’s hard to explain the pain, it’s like joints pain, a constant droning pain that gets worse when you move but then if you stay in the same position for too long it hurts too.
I’ve been speaking to mates about it and one of the things that I can do is actually medicate for this. I have my tramadol prescription, paracetamol too and for that matter I have the morphine for breakthrough pain. I only take the bare minimum of the tramadol so I really should stop suffering and get a routine going again.
Speaking of which, I am still taking my pills every day for the Care Oncology Clinic’s study into fighting cancer on the metabolic level. I still have my fist full of pills in the morning and evening, so adding some for the middle of the day too isn’t going to rock the boat that much. If next week’s chemo is a repeat of this fortnight’s then I think I may.
I signed into Facebook for the first time in a while and it’s been nice to see so many of you getting out and enjoying some food and the odd pint. I hope you’re all being safe still but that was nice to see. I hope to be able to do something similar in a month or two when I am off chemo and I have a bit more of an immune system.
Kerry has managed to get out of the house for a climb a couple of times. Once at the gym in Ouseburn and once out in the great outdoors with our M’boro crew in Northumberland. Again, though it’ll be a long time before I have the strength to do that. I hope to be able to tag along soon and play camera guy soon.
I have my appointment to get my second COVID-19 vaccination at 10:30 today at my local doctors surgery. I feel a little better about this one knowing what to expect. It’s no great cannula or deep tissue needle, and it shouldn’t get the dead arm from hell this time as it’s part two of my vaccination. Speaking to a mate about it this morning, there are a lot less reports of side effects from the second part which is encouraging. Still it’s a needle (albeit a small one) that I am having and we all know how much I look forward to them.
My mate Jo is in the queue ahead of me by 15 minutes. I hope I bump into her. It’d be nice to see a familiar face, even if it’s a ‘ships in the night’ meeting.
I’ll just need to recover an immune system a little bit more and then…. OUTDOORS BABY!
Well, unless the bloody Tory government come out with more ‘Advice’ about me staying indoors. Ha! we shall see.
I haven’t heard about a chest/abdomen MRI or PET CT scan yet. I may send a nudge to Dr Pedley to ask if he’s ordered them yet. If I am honest, I am expecting the results to come back as encouraging but for the Royal Marsden to recommend I continue with chemotherapy for further sessions. I am more or less convinced that this is going to happen but I’ll be happy to be proved wrong. I don’t see the point in pausing the chemo just because I have had a scan for them to say no continue.
I am surprisingly okay with that, if it increases the chances of me being able to have cyberknife then just have at it.
I can’t be arsed with stopping and starting, just keep me on it.
We have had some house news, I don’t want to jinx anything but it is good news. Our last stumbling block is over, the house can complete as freehold now. We are still waiting for their solicitors to answer some queries. We could get the news any week now. So that is encouraging, but sadly, that’s all the craic I have for now.
Best go get ready for this needle in my arm then,
take care, stay safe
-Cam
An honest blog about a guy's journey through cancer and chemotherapy 