Chemo II - Cycle 5 and Bicycle 1 - 25 November 2020

 Am surprised this place isn't steaming - it's been so swift and efficient today. Maybe the new computer system is bedding in. I got to the chemo suite at about 10:12 - would have been earlier if not for a liar of a lift which took me down from the 1st floor after telling me it was going up. BP, pulse and temperature done, chair and table baggsied and cannula in (left arm, first time!!) by 10:24 - well knock  me down!

(Breathy David Attenborough whisper) Today, the drip stand forest has been approached by a small herd of cannula trolleys. They are timid, only the bravest venturing to the very edge.


It's been high frequency hospital visits this week - Monday for Covid test and bloods, Tuesday for face-to-face consultation to sign the consent for the ICON9 trial, and today for chemo. That would have meant five drives in and out if I had not previously embarked on some cycle training. As it is, I did and it's been very much a net positive, but it is just possible that all that unaccustomed saddle action may have contributed to my getting a urinary tract infection - bah. Last nitrofurantoin capsule went down last night and things seem normal now, pee-wise. Anyway, that meant a car drive on Monday, but I cycled in and out Tuesday and have cycled in today - a net saving of three in-and-out car journeys . And a big boost that I feel inordinately good about. What was once a part of everyday life had to be 'trained' for, felt like a big hurdle but then became a major achievement. I'm a London Cyclist again, if only briefly 🙌.

Why not before? 

During Chemo I, the tube only had safe germs, I had my marvellous senior Oyster card and I often met someone for coffee or lunch or art gallery, for which it was nice to wear coffee-or-lunch-or-art-gallery clothes. 

For Chemo II, I have tried to cycle between each cycle (if you see what I mean) although it sometimes feels terrible, especially the first little (very  little) hill after two weeks of sofa time when I'm still getting what I now call 'exertion nausea'. But because we've previously focussed on having a few days away in the run up to each chemo, there hasn't been time to get fit enough to make it to the Euston Road, nor to condition my neck and backside for the rigours of the ride. So the second lockdown and the high frequency of visits needed this week decided it. 🚲 🚲 🚲 If there are no December days away, I will see if I can manage it again. It's a bit like Highgate West Hill: if you've done it once without getting off to push, something inside says you should be able to do it next time too. Although for the time being, something inside is saying emphatically that Highgate West Hill is a quite unsuitable route.

I think I owe a number of people some heartfelt apologies. I started off bad and seem to have got worse at replying to all my lovely friends and relations who try to ring, send texts or WhatsApps or use other media to try to get in touch. I can only try to excuse myself - if you don't catch me at a good moment, a mixture of a straitened energy budget and an overlay of brain fog means I just don't have the get-up-and-go to get back to you. I have to say: at the time I don't think I have brain fog; I just can't be bothered, but when the fog lifts I realise there's been this dampening blanket preventing any expression of initiative. SORRY!!!

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