Right for all of those who get off on tablets here is the regime. I had an anti-emetic that I had to take this morning before I left for the hospital. I should have also taken a steroid but the instructions on the packet were not helpful. (I'll try and attach a photo but I'm a newby blogger.) Lesson number one - read ALL the instructions on the packet. This oversight had slightly unpleasant consequences but more of that later.
I have tablets for if I get violently sick or have terrible diarrhoea. I have mouthwash in case my mouth gets sore and ulcerated. I also have tablets that form part of the main Chemo treatment.
I arrived at the Chemo department at the RUH on time this morning and was quickly taken to my seat in the day treatment ward. It was light and airy and fairly busy but there was an air of calm. My nurse for the day, Fiona, asked me if I'd taken my medication before arriving. I proudly said yes, I'd taken the anti-sickness pill. She said, "What about the steroid tablets?" I had to confess no and right away I felt that I'd blotted my perfect patient copybook. Fiona was fine about it and reassured me that it does happen and it wasn't too much of a problem as she could give it to me via a drip before the main drug was administered. She warned me that I would have a weird sensation of an itchy bottom. She was right. About 30 seconds after setting the drip going I had a strong, red hot, unbearably itchy feeling in my nether regions. Fiona said it would wear off before too long. Again she was right and my lesson was well and truly learnt. I won't do that again.
With that I was onto the main event. I'm having a cocktail of two drugs, Oxaliplatin and Capecitabine the combination of which is known as Xelox. The former is given via a drip, the latter I take as tablets for two weeks after the drip. I then have a week off and the whole cycle starts again.
I was hooked up to the drip for just over two hours and as the drug can make the arm a bit sore Fiona wrapped my arm in a heat pad. That certainly helped. As did the regular round of the Friends of the RUH volunteer with the tea trolley. Drip done I then had to sit whilst the line was flushed with a glucose solution, which took fifteen minutes. I then had to sit for 30 minutes just to make sure I wasn't going to have a bad reaction. I was then free.
Almost immediately some of the side effects kicked in. My arm felt quite sore and heavy but more strangely my fingers wouldn't work. It felt as if I had the worst pins and needles ever combined with that awful static electricity feeling you get when you discharge it through your hands. Only this happened whenever I touched anything which made zipping up my coat a new challenge.
Whilst waiting for Alan to arrive I felt a bit spacey and a tiny bit wobbly but nothing too bad. Challenge number two was trying to open the car door and challenge number three was to put on my seat belt. The sensation is particularly bad when you touch something cold. It's just so bloody weird and freaky.
Once home I settled down to an afternoon on the sofa to watch Antiques Road Trip, followed by Bargain Hunt, followed by Flog It. I'm having Chemo - I'm allowed!
So how are things now? Well the weird pins and needles thing also happens in my mouth and throat if I eat or drink anything colder than hot. Yes, really. It can be relieved by having a hot drink so the sensation doesn't last long, thank goodness. Likewise, when my hands cramp up Alan rubbing them warm or placing them on a hot water bottle settles them down. The arm is feeling less sore too. Unfortunately the worst thing is that every now and then I get an awful, totally overwhelming feeling of nausea wash all over me. It is really unpleasant and is followed by a 'hot flush' sensation that I hoped I'd left behind me in the menopause. Still, at the moment, it all feels manageable, particularly as the pins and needles thing should settle down after two days (and I hope the nausea does too). Long may it continue.
Round one over, seven to go.
No comments:
Post a Comment