The Sixth And Final Chemo Cycle - posted 23.8.18
The prospect of The Sixth And Final Chemo Cycle had lost a bit of its glamour and excitement due to the liver function test business and being delayed to 17 August. And 17 August was a weary day.
Although I'd had four weeks to recover from the previous chemo plus Avastin, I felt more tired than I remember after three weeks on previous cycles and hadn't picked up as much as I'd got used to between chemos. I do like a cause and effect but there are lots of variables to consider for this - the anxiety over the LFT, the accumulative decline in WBCs, accumulative chemo fatigue (?), but my main concern is that it could be because of the bevacizumab. If the proposal for a three-weekly bevacizumab regime for a year goes ahead and I feel that tired, it becomes a tricky cost-benefit calculation. But I guess that has to be left for another day as there are too many uncertainties.
One of the chemo nurses had called in the week before to clarify various things - LFT results on the way down, treatment plan etc. Amongst other things, she suggested that I skip the phlebotomists in the Cancer Centre in the morning and come straight up to Chemo Day Care - they'd put the cannula in for the chemo infusion and use it to take the bloods for my routine blood count - and this would reduce my needle exposure. Not that needles worry me too much and the phlebotomists are nearly always brilliant, but I was running out of sites.
But there were downsides to the plan - you're in a queue for your cannula and for the first time, despite some digging, the nurse couldn't get in the first time. (If that doesn't lose some readers, try the resulting bruise.) It was 10am before it was in and the samples were sent off. Although we didn't expect the full blood count to take long, Maddy and I bravely embarked on Crossing the Ribble - another steam engine - 500 pieces and soon apparent that some of those in the box belonged to another puzzle - but we soldiered on. By 11 am two friends had arrived and Christopher had supplied elevenses - I was on the verge of being embarrassed by the party atmosphere, but no-one seemed to mind. Around 12:30 I went to ask what was happening and found that, contrary to my previous understanding, they were waiting (three hours) for LFTs after all and if they weren't still going down chemo would be delayed again.
So we filled in more time with a visit to the Garden which is above our heads in ChemoDaycare on the other side of thick glass. I hadn't gone before due to confusion about signage. Read in one way, it seems that the garden is for the upper floor private patients only. But no, we are all eligible. It's a nice space with birch trees and lavender in large raised beds. But two trees have suffered in hte hot westher and are probably dead....
I took an overhead video while I waited for the previous chemo and there seemed to be a meeting - whether of people or bacteria I'm not sure...
Well, we didn't finish Crossing the Ribble, and there was no UCH mushroom soup for lunch, but the LFTs were still on the way down, the FBC showed the benefit of a four week break, I did get the chemo, my afternoon chemo sitter brought lovely food, I went to sleep with my mouth open, the chemo nurse gave us all chocolate, everyone was marvellous. But we didn't get out till 7:30pm, we were the last ones left and there was that distinct feeling of chairs being put on tables again. I suppose that made for a satisfying sort of bookend to the First Chemo Cycle.
Although I'd had four weeks to recover from the previous chemo plus Avastin, I felt more tired than I remember after three weeks on previous cycles and hadn't picked up as much as I'd got used to between chemos. I do like a cause and effect but there are lots of variables to consider for this - the anxiety over the LFT, the accumulative decline in WBCs, accumulative chemo fatigue (?), but my main concern is that it could be because of the bevacizumab. If the proposal for a three-weekly bevacizumab regime for a year goes ahead and I feel that tired, it becomes a tricky cost-benefit calculation. But I guess that has to be left for another day as there are too many uncertainties.
One of the chemo nurses had called in the week before to clarify various things - LFT results on the way down, treatment plan etc. Amongst other things, she suggested that I skip the phlebotomists in the Cancer Centre in the morning and come straight up to Chemo Day Care - they'd put the cannula in for the chemo infusion and use it to take the bloods for my routine blood count - and this would reduce my needle exposure. Not that needles worry me too much and the phlebotomists are nearly always brilliant, but I was running out of sites.
But there were downsides to the plan - you're in a queue for your cannula and for the first time, despite some digging, the nurse couldn't get in the first time. (If that doesn't lose some readers, try the resulting bruise.) It was 10am before it was in and the samples were sent off. Although we didn't expect the full blood count to take long, Maddy and I bravely embarked on Crossing the Ribble - another steam engine - 500 pieces and soon apparent that some of those in the box belonged to another puzzle - but we soldiered on. By 11 am two friends had arrived and Christopher had supplied elevenses - I was on the verge of being embarrassed by the party atmosphere, but no-one seemed to mind. Around 12:30 I went to ask what was happening and found that, contrary to my previous understanding, they were waiting (three hours) for LFTs after all and if they weren't still going down chemo would be delayed again.
So we filled in more time with a visit to the Garden which is above our heads in ChemoDaycare on the other side of thick glass. I hadn't gone before due to confusion about signage. Read in one way, it seems that the garden is for the upper floor private patients only. But no, we are all eligible. It's a nice space with birch trees and lavender in large raised beds. But two trees have suffered in hte hot westher and are probably dead....
I took an overhead video while I waited for the previous chemo and there seemed to be a meeting - whether of people or bacteria I'm not sure...
Well, we didn't finish Crossing the Ribble, and there was no UCH mushroom soup for lunch, but the LFTs were still on the way down, the FBC showed the benefit of a four week break, I did get the chemo, my afternoon chemo sitter brought lovely food, I went to sleep with my mouth open, the chemo nurse gave us all chocolate, everyone was marvellous. But we didn't get out till 7:30pm, we were the last ones left and there was that distinct feeling of chairs being put on tables again. I suppose that made for a satisfying sort of bookend to the First Chemo Cycle.
Oh my, your poor bruised arm. Thanks for that update Jan, which I am only now discovering, 2 months later. How's the 3-weekly routine going? x
ReplyDelete