May Contain Nuts

Hannah should’ve been having a 1:1 training session before my chemotherapy appointment, but it had been cancelled on our way there, so we popped to Costa for a coffee and a tea and a relaxation before going to the hospital. I knew that if I got to the hospital early, they wouldn’t make me sit and wait too long, so I told Hannah to take me there early so that she could come back home and get on with the rest of her day. 

I arrived thirty minutes early and of course they called me through after a few minutes of waiting. I was a bit anxious about not using the cold cap, but Lammy eased my fears by telling me that I had done all I can. Fourteen cold cap sessions are a lot more than other people had done. I had tried it and shown that with the paclitaxel it had worked, but the new chemotherapy is not behaving the same and I shouldn’t feel bad about it. I just have two more sessions to go. Lammy then told me that he used to work in private chemotherapy care in Harley Street. He went to a talk about how to use the cold cap and was sat next to Trevor Sorbie (Lammy had no idea who he was) and Trevor was there as his brother’s wife had just been diagnosed and he wanted to know what he could do to help seeing as he is a successful hairdresser. He started a charity called “My New Hair” to help train hairdressers with wigs that will make the wig look more like real hair. Lammy also told me that through the Harley Street doctors, the patients had their chemotherapy treatments at home with a specially made cold cap that they kept in their freezer. So that’s what money buys you, and your own nurses at home with you.  

Anyway, the things you get to experience whilst using the NHS are the lovely nurses and doctors on the chemo unit. The other patients certainly make for a fun packed day! The lovely Pauline that sat opposite me today was from South Africa. She said that her parents had moved over here years ago when she was younger, and she loves living in Whitham. She has been with her girlfriend for the past two years and has been surprised that she has stayed with her through her treatment. Pauline had her surgery first; she had a full mastectomy on her left breast, and a breast reduction on her right breast. She said that her cancer is HER2 positive. I told her that mine is triple negative so chemo first. She has advised me to get the whey protein that bodybuilders use, as she believes that is what has helped her to get through her surgery better. She only needed drains for a week instead of the usual two, so I told her I would investigate it. Any help to get through surgery quicker is a bonus. 

Pauline is also on EC chemotherapy, but she has said that the steroids have made her feel very hungry and she has put on weight. Her tablets are the same as mine, just three days of steroids and anti-sickness pills, but she didn’t have immunotherapy, so there were no injections for her. So, as much as she was eating more, I struggled the other way where I had to take the anti-sickness to give me the ability to stomach food afterwards. It’s amazing how we can go through the same things, but all have different side effects. 

There were two men in Bay 3 with us, and they both seemed to be there for their first rounds of chemotherapy. They seemed ok but kept themselves to themselves. One of them seemed to spend most of his time on the phone with his wife/girlfriend. Right from the start, I did things the other way and just sent pictures to the family rather than calling them, and it has been that way ever since. I talk to them all when I get home, but the chemo unit is not somewhere where I ever want them to experience, so I try to keep it separate from our family life. 

During one of our conversations, Pauline mentioned that she was using loop earplugs. She said that she feels drained when she gets home from artificial lighting, and she was trying the loop earplugs as she finds that she gets really overstimulated from all the conversations and the noises on the unit. I make her right. I used to think that a lot of the tiredness when I got home was from the antihistamines, but I haven’t had them for the past few sessions, and I was still feeling weird coming home. I was blaming the chemotherapy, but it absolutely makes sense. It’s tiring not from too much rest, but from too much stimulation. 

Without having the cold cap, my treatment finished earlier than usual, so Simon left work early. I then had to wait for my prescriptions, which they normally do whilst the cold cap was on. I must remember getting them earlier next time as that was boring sitting around waiting for the pharmacy to hurry up. 

It was another night for me to wake up after 4am. So, when I woke up, I put my air pods in and listened to some podcasts. I thought I didn’t disturb Simon that much. It turns out that when I giggle listening to Chatabix (Joe Wilkinson and David Earl) it wakes Simon up. So now I will have to make sure that I listen to the boring ones! 

Only having about 6 hours of sleep and then taking steroids during the day often leaves me fit and able to do things around the house but makes me tired so I must sit and rest for a while. I probably should nap but I can’t even do that properly as I am not tired enough for it. It’s all ups and downs. But the end is getting nearer, and I know I can get through this. I’ve managed so far, there is no way that I am going to let it get to me now. 

On Friday, I managed to get some housework and cooking done. On Saturday I could feel my energy levels going down, but Simon wanted to get his vinyl into the new boxes he ordered, so I cracked on and did that until I couldn’t do any more. Today (Sunday), I made a call to Andrew and Sarah while my energy levels were up. Ate lunch on my own as the girls were stuck in traffic, and I’ve been fighting with my stomach and tiredness ever since. So, I read my book for a little while whilst my temperature slowly declined, and I thought doing my blog would be a good way to end the afternoon. Hopefully I’ll manage a child-sized portion of food this evening. Might have to be Emily cooking today as I’m not feeling it now.