Month: December 2018

From time to time I felt a little tired over the Christmas period but I can’t necessarily blame that on the chemotherapy. After all, we were catering for eleven people, although with a lot of much-appreciated help and support from our guests.

Once again, the only real side-effect I have suffered since the last chemo session has been some occasional indigestion. Or maybe I ate too much Christmas pudding!

I think I have been incredibly lucky so far; even my hair loss seems to have slowed down a bit. I only wear my wig or perhaps one of my trendy hats on important outings. Around the house I still have enough (thin) hair to get by.

Today I had my third chemo session which was uneventful apart from the discovery of a stray suture following the insertion of the Port-a-Cath (it should have been dissolvable, but it wasn’t).

While chatting to my nurse, Lily, I asked how long her shift was and was shocked to find out that they all have to work 12 hour shifts with just 30 minutes’ break. They all work so hard and are so dedicated.

I decided to have the “cold cap” treatment again to try and save my remaining hair.

Just before the treatment started I was visited by my Consultant Clinical Oncologist who examined me and said I am doing very well, which was encouraging.

Everything took rather longer to finish this time because many of the medical staff were still away enjoying their Christmas break; however, we were home by 17:00, a total of 7 1/2 hours.

If my hair should go much beyond its current sad state, not bothering with the “cold cap” for future sessions would save several hours each time.

Next Friday, 4th January I am due to have a further ultrasound-guided mammogram and then on Monday 7th a follow-up review with the Consultant Surgical Oncologist. I will post again after that.

Thank you, as always, for all your moral and practical support. Have a great New Year’s celebration!

Why did I worry so much about the Port-a-Cath? Well, perhaps it could have been the idea of having a big chunk of metal under my skin which was to be pierced by a needle; but actually it was for nothing that I had a troubled night before last Friday’s second chemo session.

My lovely nurse Ashley carefully removed the dressing and popped the needle through my skin and into the Port-a-Cath device and it didn’t hurt a bit. I suppose they had to tell me the worst scenario as some people might experience pain or discomfort.

I had to wait for my blood test results before they could start. They all came back good and the procedure started as before – pre-meds and the cold cap for 30 minutes then the chemo, which took just 45 minutes to administer, then finally another 90 minutes of cold cap. We were finished at 15:35, an hour earlier than last time.

I felt fine afterwards, a few odd twinges around the Port-a-Cath, which has a dressing on for 48 hours, but that’s hardly surprising I suppose.

Ashley, my chemo nurse, suggested I should get a bottle which makes sure you drink enough water throughout the day. It’s very handy as I have to drink two to three litres which is a LOT for somebody of my diminutive size.  Very useful for everybody maybe? Here is the Amazon link to the water bottle.

The next day, Saturday, we went to visit Simon, Kate and our granddaughter Georgie in Hither Green, near Lewisham and Lizzie (Grannie) was there too. We had a lovely lunch and afternoon, but I felt really tired on the way home as I’d had interrupted sleep the night before.

Colin has perfected giving me the injection on the first post-chemo day to help my immunity by boosting white blood cells; this time it was totally painless and there was no blood or bruising.  Skillz!

Unfortunately after we got back home on Saturday I had the same horrible indigestion that I had the last time, but now I have more magic pills and have been fine since.

On Sunday I woke up full of energy. The steroids had kicked in and so we had a busy day with our friends Suz and James and their boys here for a Sunday roast dinner which was lovely.  Well that’s how it was for me, but Colin was exhausted by my boundless energy and was constantly saying “chill”.

The house was tidy and clean by midday, all my cupboards were organised and the dessert was beaten to within an inch of its life.

The washing-up was a somewhat damp affair I now hear – I had no idea Colin was taking photos as evidence.

Today, Monday 10th December, I decided that my hair has definitely decided to give up the ghost.  Lots of fallout, so I went back to our local wig specialists and left there with a wig which I think gives me an appearance very similar to “normal”.

As I said before, the upside of my hair loss is not having to endure the cold cap during chemo.  Sadly, that’s the only upside I can see at the moment.  Well, apart from not having to worry about my hair when I’m going out – I’ll just “whack on the wig”.

Now, the appointment with my Consultant today.  I’ll summarise quickly:

Nothing can be certain, but he is pretty sure that the treatment trajectory, as he calls it, will be very effective. I am “triple positive” meaning that my cancer is oestrogen-positive; androgen-receptor-positive; progesterone-receptor-negative; and HER2-receptor-positive.  The worst diagnosis would have been “triple negative” – had the cancer been of this type it could have meant that there was a genetic element rather than it being a random cell mutation. Very reassuring for me, not to say also Carrie and Amy.

The plan going forward is much as before.  Chemo sessions to continue.  Two more at three-weekly intervals, a check by mammogram and ultrasound in early January, then assuming the tumour is shrinking as expected (a change of “cocktail” if it isn’t) chemotherapy weekly for twelve more weeks including monoclonal antibody therapy (“MAB”) using Herceptin, which will probably go on for a full twelve months.

All-in-all I’m still feeling positive; continuing to feel pretty good with surprisingly few side-effects so far.

We are driving to Scotland tomorrow, until Sunday.

Feeling good about Christmas and the New Year too.

Thanks again for all your positive calls, emails and messages.  I’ll post again if anything changes but for now all is well. Next chemo session is on 28th December.

Happy Christmas and a healthy and happy 2019 to all xx

I am feeling rather sad as I found quite a lot of hair in my hairbrush yesterday afternoon; I was hoping the cold cap had worked and maybe it has delayed or will reduce my hair loss, so I plan to continue with that during the next chemotherapy session tomorrow and will hope for the best.

Apart from that I have been feeling fine since my last post; however, Amy and I did spend five hours in the local Accident & Emergency Department last Friday night as I was concerned about my left eye. A few weeks ago I had a big black “floater” appear which was checked out by an optician who said my eye was healthy and my brain would adjust to the floater, so I would hardly notice it – which has happened. 

This may sound familiar to some of you who I know have had similar experiences, but then I started getting flashes of light and then it felt as if I had something physically in my eye so we went to get it checked out.  To cut a long story short, I was given antibiotic ointment and an appointment at the eye clinic at Royal Surrey County Hospital, which was yesterday.  The doctor said it was “posterior vitreous detachment”, not a detached retina and nothing to worry about, but to blink as much as possible to lubricate my eyes as chemotherapy dries them out. I often have dry eyes anyway and have drops and ointment which I will continue to use regularly. 

Carrie arrived from Chicago last Saturday and we have had a lovely time meeting up with friends and family. Carrie was with me for the Port-a-Cath insertion on Monday, which went fine (Colin was briefly in Cyprus closing down our villa for the winter). I was lightly sedated because the radiologist said he would be using a local anaesthetic so I wouldn’t feel anything. I was awake while he chatted to the nurse during the procedure which took about an hour including recovery time. The most painful bit was inserting the cannula into the back of my hand to put in the sedative. I could feel pressing and him rummaging about in my chest, but no pain. 

The doctor had explained the insertion procedure but did not say anything about how I would feel afterwards and once the anaesthetic had worn off in the evening I was in a lot of discomfort.  My throat, neck and chest hurt but once I went to bed and lay on my back it all felt much better. Getting out of bed was painful but over the last few days it has got better and I am looking forward to the dressing being removed so I can see what it looks like. 

I received a very informative letter from my consultant yesterday explaining all my results and saying he would discuss my future treatment with me on Monday 10th December at our meeting.  So I will post next after that meeting. 

Colin says there are now fifty of you following my blog which is just amazing. Thank you all for your continued support.