42. Chemo V (week 1 of Taxol)

On Sunday I had lunch at Aunty Lori and Uncle Murray's with Mither and Pither. A very yummy vegetable quiche, a delicious quinoa salad, olive and rosemary sourdough bread, Mexican dip (my favourite) and a frozen cream/cream cheese nest and berries for desert. A good start to the week.

Monday I had my appointment with Paula. We had a run down about my hospital trip, any lingering fears, how I was dealing with that, how other people in my life have been dealing with a very scary chapter in my chemo journey. We also discussed all my craft and creative projects I have going and how they are helping to balance out all the medical stuff in my life. After that I went and had my blood test. The nurse felt around my elbow where I'd had the two cannulas when in hospital, plus two other holes when the nurse missed the vein. She mentioned it felt a bit hard and lumpy and when I said that I had blood taken from a vein in my hand she looked at it and said "Oh, you have lovely veins here, much easier though they can hurt a bit more". I said it would be fine and it didn't really hurt any more than other places I've been stuck with needles. After that it was home for some lunch and then a massage. I had some sore muscles from my exercise class on Saturday and also still some from all the coughing I had done and sleeping in weird positions in hospital and when sick. Felt much freer afterwards.

In the afternoon Shell came up with Aneira and Zaeli and they brought me a new headscarf, the Wattle Warrior one. Amazing colours and I wore it to chemo on Tuesday, even though it was a humid and hot day the hospital was cool and dry. Shell was going to a concert in the city with some friends so we were looking after the kids until Dylan finished work. He had parent teacher interviews and meetings. He ended up getting here quite late but it was fun playing with the kids when I was feeling better as the last two times I had seen them I was either in hospital or between my two ambulance trips.

Tuesday - Chemo V day. 9am appointment. While I was waiting I had some shooting pain/cramp in my right fingers and hand but a bit of a massage and they were gone. Perhaps too much using of scissors cutting out hexagon templates? It was busy at the chemo clinic today. About 9.15am Mocs took me through. 138.8kg, 133/83 bp, 36.6c, 98% oxygen (YES!) lymphocytes 0.84 (still going up, good). I was given 2 dexamethasone, 1 Famotidine and 1 Claratyne. Taxol can have some allergic reactions so this can help apparently. I don't get the big anti nausea tablet this time around, that's $100 less tax payers are paying. Mocs asks me how I've been in the last 3 weeks, noting my record shows the hospital visit. She wants details and how I'm recovering. She also is surprised I had been sent home on the Monday. I know that if I go to hospital again (hope not!) that I will be sure to tell them I won't go home without seeing Dr Michael.

Mocs sets up all the syringes and saline tubes and needles etc etc etc. Time to see if Persephone is going to play today or not. They have the medication to dissolve the fibrin sheath ready. Mocs feels around where to put the needle into Persephone, it's squishy and moves around a bit in the boob as it is really too low, but she eventually must've found the three little dots that tell her where to stab Persephone. She gets the needle and it takes a few times to actually get it in as Persephone kept deciding to avoid being stabbed. Stop being a bitch and just take it lady!!! When the needle does go in it HURTS, she had to do it slowly to make sure she did have the right spot. Mocs apologises and the pain fades pretty quickly. She sticks on a clear dressing on top to hold the needle in place and then attached a syringe and pushed through some saline. The moment of truth, will Persephone bleed or will I have to have the medication and wait around for an extra 2 hours?

BLOOD! She decides to bleed. Mocs take out that syringe, puts in another one, pushes through saline and pulls back.....again, again, nope. She tells to sit up straight and tall and do a big cough. I do and blood again. Maybe all the coughing I had done while being sick has dislodged whatever was blocking the tube, or where it was positioned in my heart. Who knows. Anyway, another nurse is called over to witness that Persephone has decided to stop being so precocious and they can proceed with the taxol.

No big syringe filled with raspberry cordial coloured liquid this time. 3 bags are hung on the IV stand and the first one takes 45 mins, then another about an hour and a half and then a 22 min saline flush. Mocs says to tell her, or another nurse, immediately if I have any lower back pain, pain anywhere, hot flushes, scratchy throat, headache or any other symptom that is not normal. I tell her I will let them know.

I take out my hexagons, this time most of the fabrics are blues and purples. One of the other ladies there is interested to know what I was doing so I gave her the run down. She says she should get herself a hobby. I agree, everyone should have at least one hobby. Christy arrives not long after my treatment had started, she sits next to me. She has often been there when I have been there. She says welcome back and asked where I had been and how I was. I told her I had a 3 week break anyway from the AC chemo but I'd been sick. I run through a quick version of the hospital visit as she'd missed my chat with Mocs. She's on antibiotics for a nail infection at the moment. Dr Michael was saying that it's not so much that people on chemo will get more infections than normal but that they end up getting really bad quickly due to compromised immune systems. Normally you might not know you are fighting off something but with chemo there is little to no (or only a little) army to fight and so they get over run quickly.

I cough at one point and all 3 nurses in the room sharply look at me with intense expressions on their face, almost rising on their toes ready to spring into action if I'm having an allergic reaction. Almost like the big cats get just before they spring off after their prey. Probably a rush of adrenaline has gone spiking through their systems. I tell them it's just a post pneumonia cough and I'm fine. They relax, going back to what they were doing. Mocs says "I'm watching you closely!" Good to know. Everyone in the clinic is amazing. Definitely looked after well.

Done around 12.15pm. 46 hexagons. I go home and do some more hexagons while watching the final half of the extended edition of Return of the King. 66 this time. I have a slight headache, bit spacey too. Tummy feels ok. Normally by around 3pm-4pm time is when I started to feel really shitty on the previous chemo. After dinner I'm still doing about the same, body feels a bit heavy and I'm a bit tired. I go get into bed, and I get out my iPad and play around on procreate, watching a YouTube tutorial on how to make your pattern into a seamless repeat. I made a few designs and successfully turn them into seamless repeat pattern (think fabric, wallpaper designs....a hint for my new project). Before I know it, it's 11pm! Time flies when you are having fun.

Wednesday. I wake up, feel ok. It had taken a bit to get to sleep in the night but after putting the air con on I slept fine, only waking a couple of times to pee. Way too humid! Bring on winter PLEASE! I was awake for a bit and then jack hammering started almost outside my room. The plumber was here, breaking up the path outside my actual room (that had flooded twice last year) to start the process of fixing the drainage issue. I sent a message to Lewis saying I was feeling ok and would come to exercise class at noon. Ange and Evie came over about half an hour before I went to exercise. I probably would say I felt about 80% afterwards. Exercise is a good medicine. I had some lunch and then Ange, Evie and I went down to Spotlight to get cake decorating supplies for Evie's cake. The next two day are going to be busy helping out with that, the party is on Saturday afternoon. I had an hour an a half nap before dinner. I was quite tired!

So, much better report after the taxol chemo than the AC chemo. It is cumulative, so every week for 12 weeks I could feel a bit worse each time and take longer to recover. Stay tuned.