2014...not a good year!

It's day 8 post chemo no5.  It was not a pleasant experience...in fact, my stomach is churning as I am typing. I have what is called anticipatory nausea, so it means that before the actual side effects of nausea and vomiting from the actual drugs, I get sick in anticipation of getting the chemo. It was bad. I was trying to distract myself by chatting to a fellow survivor when the boaking started. Then came the vomiting.  I had to tell the staff to go ahead and inject the drugs while vomiting. There was nothing they could do.

Eight days later, I am still feeling the effects of this along with all the other expected ones. The skin of my palms are peeling, my nose is constantly running, my gullet feels burnt (from the gastric acids due to all the vomiting), my head is sore, I'm very breathless on mild exertion, hot flushes,I could sleep all day long, my urethra feels irritated, the area where my liver is feels uncomfortable at times, my ears are constantly buzzing and I look like crap!

I've been missing out on some of my children's events, which is pretty frustrating. My friend wanted to help me out by taking them for their tea and a play on the night of their school disco. This was a great help as I was unable to on the day post chemo. When my daughter came home she was crying. her ankle was sore and she had tripped in a hole while playing. That night and the next day, it was too painful for her to put her foot down. There was only one thing for it. My already frazzled husband had to take her to A&E. She came home with a half cast on...she had a fracture.
I really couldn't believe it. What else was the universe planning to throw at us!
Today however, we had a pleasant surprise. The doctor told us (at her return appointment) that her x-ray was okay, despite what we were originally told, she came home with a support boot instead of a cast. Hooray! 

Catch-up

Well that last blast of chemo left me pretty floored for a while. While the gastric symptoms had eased slightly(because the oncologist withheld the IV steroids), I felt as if the my life-force had been drained from my body. Even talking was an effort. I slowly and steadily picked up as the days passed until  normality crept in again.

Over these days, my lovely dog became unwell. We were really worried about her. After 4 trips to the vet, a course of antibiotics, a pelvic scan and bloods, we were told she that she would have to go to the vet school for a lumbar tap as they suspected possible meningitis. So poor Lexi was whisked away. We got her home 4 days later. The tap was positive and she has to have steroids until remission. It will take a while for her to recover. As I took her a short walk yesterday, we both looked a picture!  Both of us tired, walking slowly, trying to recover. What a sight! Roll on healthier days.