See Our Family, And Feel Better About Yours.

Right, so indeed it has been a while since my last blog. Unfortunately, the last two weeks have been pretty relentless! And not in a 'I've been enjoying myself and doing fun things' kind of way...

So, a quick catch up since I began my Consolidation treatment. The IV cyclophosphamide went well - I'm mainly getting my chemo etc. as an outpatient in the Children's Day Care Unit now, which is a lot nicer than Bud West I have to say! They have a room especially for teenagers and young adults, which is decked out similarly to the Teenage Cancer Trust Ward. It even has its own snack menu! (Got to get a reference to food in somewhere!) But most importantly the nurses are just as lovely as everywhere else! :) I also had to start my Cytarabine that weekend, a four day course of subcutaneous (under the skin) injections, which I do myself. Nothing to worry about there - especially now I have the cold spray - definitely takes the sting out the needle! Did have a major set of headaches that weekend though, not sure whether it was an overdue couple of migraines/side effects of chemo/dehydration or all of the above, but two half days in bed wasn't fun - especially on Mother's Day! :( Dad very kindly did the evening meal, which was an amazing stuffed pork roast, and I'd pre-made a marble white and dark chocolate cheesecake the night before luckily! 

White and Dark Chocolate Marbled Cheesecake

So the afternoon wasn't too horrendous for Mum! She did seem to enjoy her pressie, George Ezra's album, at full blast though - during my migraine might I add! 

Last week involved heading up to Maidstone Hospital for a blood test (luckily able to get non-chemo stuff done at Maidstone now I'm an outpatient, yay :) ), which wasn't too bad - and I managed to drive there and back. I had Mum for company just in case I couldn't manage but was ok! Still not going to tackle long journeys for a while though, I do get tired so quickly... I had another intrathecal chemo injection on Thursday, along with Pentamidine in a nebuliser. This is to replace my antibiotics I was receiving at weekends to prophylactically cover me against Pneumocystis Pneumonia. (It's a nasty pneumonia people who are immunosuppressed are at high risk of developing.) The antibiotics would cover me for it, however, my consultant was concerned they were causing my neutrophil counts to remain low after my chemo. So now I have this Pentamidine once a month instead! I also had another four days of Cytarabine over the weekend, another stinking Migraine on Saturday. I had to go up to the Marsden that day too for some packed red blood cells as my counts were low on Friday when I went up with Phil to pick up my Cytarabine :(. I am very much neutropenic now as well - my count was 0.09, so very high chance of an infection occurring, which means staying in, away from crowds and busy places, and eating the 'intense' neutropenic diet and not out/dodgy takeaways...So it was a good job I had that curry when I did!!

Trying to get over a Migraine whilst receiving 
pRBCs - best way to spend a Saturday?

More concerning, however, last week was the fact that Lottie got ill. From last sunday she wasn't feeling good, so went to A&E, with suspected appendicitis, after seeing the GP on Wednesday. Unfortunately, after many tests and checks, she was sent home and told that if her abdominal pain got worse to return the next day or if she still had it on Friday. Thursday it got worse, and due to her not wanting to give me anything nasty (bless her!) returned to A&E for further tests. They kept her in on fluids and until they could rule out anything bacterial nasties, but even after all this and being in until Sunday morning, the problem was still not resolved, and she still doesn't have a diagnosis. She is still really unwell and went down to the GP again today, having been off since she got out of hospital, and they are going to run some more tests. So this week I've been trying to look after her when I can! Just felt so sorry for my poor parents last week - with Dad with me at the Marsden, and Mum with Lot in Pembury - you couldn't write this... Our family really needs its own sitcom or something...we're giving Eastenders a run for its money at the moment!

Poorly Lot with Nurse Flo

Then to top it off this week, I wake up Monday with a sore throat, as does Dad. I go up to the Royal Marsden for my Ambisone, and MORE packed red blood cells! Woop... And the next day, Dad has a stinking flu-like cold!! :( 

Poorly Dad in his SARS mask

The Marsden don't seem overly concerned about my sore throat (since most likely viral in origin, and I'm already on antivirals). They just reinforce that I should take my temperature regularly at home so that if a get a temperature spike I know about it and can get myself to a hospital sharpish for some good old IV antibiotics. So to avoid all the diseased/possibly-diseased members of my family, and because I haven't been round to Phil's in a while, I go round there that afternoon for a lovely home cooked (by Phil!!!) dinner of enchiladas, and very yummy they were too! He is good at this cooking lark - just needs some more confidence I feel :).

Yesterday, I was able to have my next lot of Ambisone at Maidstone Hospital and got my sore throat checked again there, as by this point it was really painful to swallow and felt quite swollen... All goes well and I got sent home on some oral antibiotics for cover and told to come back in the next day for a proper prescription (as was late in the day by this point) and some Chlorhexidine mouthwash. So today Phil and I return, and end up seeing a different doctor who wants me off the antibiotics (as he doesn't feel they're necessary, as it's most likely a viral infection), but does send me home with the Chlorhexidine mouthwash and another one that reduces inflammation and has a local anaesthetic in it, so I'm not in constant pain. Good stuff! Apart from the Chlorhexidine mouthwash is beyond foul. But anyway...I'm back up at the Royal Marsden tomorrow for my next onslaught of chemo and other things... Next week is looking fairly busy in terms of appointments and seeing people so I imagine the next blog update will be around Easter! Hope you all have an enjoyable one! :D

Much love to you all xxxx