This time it’s personal

So I am around half way through the first week of the first cycle of three (or possibly four) of chemo, with the possibility of radio therapy to follow – if you say it quickly, it doesn't sound so bad….

I have had a look back over the most recent set of posts and realised that I haven’t mentioned the drugs I am privileged enough to be receiving (I mean that, all you Americans – the NHS is great).

I am receiving a GemCis combination – Gemcitabine and Cisplatin. For those of you with long memories, (or the facility to scroll down the page) you will notice the similarity of drugs to last time – Capecitabine and Oxaliplatin, and with that similarity in names you will see a similarity in symptoms and side effects.

Both of these are administered as a drip. This means that I have a single day treatment at the Edinburgh Cancer Centre at the Western General. It is an all-day stint, starting in the morning. It starts with a bag of saline solution (1 hour) followed by some steroids. This is closely followed by the first of the Chemo drugs – Gemcitabine. by this time i have had three cups of tea and am ready to go to the toilet – which I am doing more frequently anyway – so I end up taking my pump and drugs for a walk to the toilet with me.

After this I have another saline (or glucose – can’t remember) drip, which takes 2 hours. I have no idea why that one takes so long. After that there is the second chemo drug – Cisplatin. The two chemo drugs take about 15 minutes each and there is about 5 hours of saline/glucose/flushing going on around about them – but someone brings you tea and biscuits so it isn’t all bad.

I have the same anti-sickness drugs and (more) steroids as last time, for three days, to take the edge off the chemo.

Now, of course, I remember that the steroids do really strange things to my sleeping – wide away at 4 am on Thursday morning, and when I do get to sleep, the dreams can be weird and wonderful – maybe just weird though. After that the drugs do kind of take control and it isn’t so bad, although I don’t remember being so tired last time so quickly.

I finished the first round of chemo/steroids/anti-sickness yesterday – and yesterday evening was not much fun. Neither was today at church. The meeting hall was very warm and I kept getting worried glances from Katie (on my left) and Helen (on my right) about the colour I was going – they were obviously worried about my catching an infection, so I can’t complain too much though.

My sense of taste has also been affected. I constantly have a yeuck taste in my mouth and can only taste stronger food – I had fruit salad for breakfast and could only taste the pineapple, although apparently grapefruit also tastes normal. Orange juice on the other hand is just foul. Surprisingly, my sense of smell has been unaffected, Anyone who drives through or lives close to the west end of Edinburgh will not forget the malt smell from the brewery – that was just as fragrant as ever today.

So it is a waiting game again until Wednesday, when I get to go through it all again. I will see how I get on tomorrow at work (yes I am still trying to work, at least part time anyway).

I have just realised that I get to have chemo on my birthday this year (16th of February, if you want to send a presie) – maybe if I play my cards right I will get a second birthday, like the Queen or Paddington, later on in the year – maybe in April, since no-one else in the family has a birthday that month.

 

Enough – off to watch the telly now.

Gob bless

Graham

p.s. oh yes, I have been constipated too (sorry, just had to throw that in)

p.p.s Happy 18th birthday to Sean

Just a quickie

I found this in the BBC news website, about the build up of computing facilities for the 2012 Olympics – thats even more computers than the Love household!

Virtual London 2012 Olympics off starting block

The big day

Time passes and eventually we get to where we are going - and this is where I have been heading recently. Today I have arrived at Ward 1 of the Western General for my new chemo treatment.

Yesterday I was at a different part of the hospital - Nuclear Medicine - for a kidney function test. As tests go, it was pretty boring. I arrived (half an hour late, because of the traffic) and had a canula put in. Then I was injected with radioactive Technetium (despite what I said on facebook, it was Technetium). After that I was told to go away and come back in an hour. I was left to wander the wards of the hospital and do anything I wanted, so long as I returned after the required time.

Sure enough, I turned up after an hour. They took a siringe-full of blood and sent me away for another hour. This was repeated twice more before I was sent home. My pee was luminous for twenty four hours (only joking) and that was it - pretty boring really

Today I have returned, this time to the Chemo ward. I was inducted, given my bracelet and enough paperwork to destroy a small woodland copse. They contain all sorts of dire warnings about side effects - more of which in future posts, I am sure.

With the wonder of modern technology, I am connected to the internet, typing this as I am drip-fed (quick glance to check the spelling) Gemcitabine.

My alarm has just gone off, so it must be time for a new drug - Cisplatin, I think. So far, so good though.

They have introduced a new service here in Ward 1- I have just had a foot massage, as I sit here - very relaxing indeed.

The morning in here seemed to be fairly quiet, although I heard other patients and staff say it was very quiet. The afternoon has picked up. this morning there was one other patient, but there are four of us here now and this is one area of one treatment site (there are four here).

I have another few hours to go, so I think I will stop just now, so that I can save some stuff for next time.

Starting over again

The more eagle-eyed readers will undoubtable noticed that the name of this blog has changed. I have been feeling inadequate in the name department after reading the blog of my friend - see below.

ChemoBoy is my alter-ego, and I have the teeshirt to prove it. I might get one of the children to take a photo of me in my superhero outfit.

Now that we have the important stuff out of the way, an update. We had our appointment with the Oncologist on 30th December (and a holiday at Centre Parcs, too, which is the reason for the delay). The result of this is that I have an appointment to start my Chemo on 19th of January.

Again however, we were back to square one with the choices. After everything seemed to be cut and dried, we were given the same choices as before.


There are two definitive treatments for Bladder cancer, according to the Oncologist. They are Radiotherapy and Cistectomy (surgical removal of the bladder). Chemotherapy can be given before either of these options to improve the outcome at the other end.


After a discussion of the options I have chosen to go for the Chemo, hence the appointment next week.


The treatment this time consists of three cycles, and this time it will take place at Ward One at the Western General in Edinburgh. I am sure that Ward One will be familiar to most cancer sufferers in this part of the world, however I managed to avoid it last time, so this will be a new experience for me.


Treatment will take place once a week (a Wednesday) on Week One and Two, with Week Three off. There will be three cycles (of three weeks each) followed by a biopsy and a possible fourth cycle if the tumour is responding. This will be followed by Radiotherapy.

If the tumour is not responding after the biopsy then the prefered option of the surgeons will be to remove the entire bladder.


I am very anxious to avoid this option, if at all possible.


I have been in contact with a friend from my previous life, Janine. She has just been diagnosed with her second cancer - a lump in her neck. First time round she had to have her leg amputated, so I guess she knows what we are going through with the whole bladder removal thing.  She had here five year all clear just before discovering this lump. Click here to follow her husbands blog - Musings and Leanings.


I will post again as the chemo progresses.

On a happier note, I am sitting with my favourite Katie, watching The Two Towers and eating Cadbery Clusters :)

How could life be better?