33. A 3 drug cocktail and a chemo hangover...

Apologies for not posting something sooner. My brain has been like mush lately and I've been sleeping a lot!

So my last chemo was on the 9th July and my next one is due this Friday...it will be my penultimate one!

There wasn't much to say about my last chemo. The day went nice and smoothly.

I had one of the usual nurses and a new one from Dubai called Sweetie. And she really was! She thanked me for trusting her on flushing my line and she was just very pleasant.

Again, it only took a couple hours to do the chemo, I spent most of it playing and escape room game on my laptop!

I felt fine just as they finished but walking out the building to my car the tiredness hit. Not sure if it was the lack of sleep the night before or just the general chemo but I was knackered.

By the time I got home I felt like I had a hangover. Extremely tired and nauseous. I got in and went straight to bed. (Oh, don't worry, I didn't drive...Dan was in charge of that bit!)

That feeling did last a few days. Which is about as long as my normal handovers last now! Well, at least that is what I remember them to be like. It's been so long since I've been out, had a good dance and get very drunk!

After about 4 days I had about 2-3 days of dizzy spells. I had these last time and rang the cancer helpline about them and they just said to get my blood pressure checked. Which I did and it was all fine. Nurse Bella said it was perfect! Not sure what's causing these. With the hot weather we had this time round I thought I might be dehydrated as drinking made me feel sick...everything was making me feel sick. So I done the only thing that was making me feel OK, sleep!

My app says I slept an average of 10 hours a day/night, but I swear I was more than that!

It took a good 2 weeks for the nausea to subside and feeling a bit more energetic.

I even managed a afternoon at the beach with a friend and a day out with Dan which was lovely to be out for a bit of normality.

But the tiredness is still lingering, much more than the first 4 cycles of chemo. Not sure if it's the different drugs or just the accumulative effect of the treatment.

I've not been able to go back to work and any activity I do I can only do for a short while before my brain and body starts to meltdown. I feel like I need a nap every 4 hours, yet when I come to sleep at night I can't! Very annoying.

It didn't help when one of my cats disappeared for a few days, so was up worrying about her. Then the kitten also went missing for a bit when I went out looking for the other one! Was a stressful 3 days!

The kitten (Puma) is now a year old! Can't believe a year has gone by already. She helped me through the first lockdown and my bout of depression. She is my little ninja shadow that just appears from nowhere! Still very entertaining as she still loves to play!

Today I went into St Margaret's Hospice to get bloods done ready for chemo and my picc line dressing changed.

I cant wait for the picc line to be removed, although in one way I will miss it. But to be able to shower without struggling to get the waterproof sleeve on and go for a swim in the sea will be bliss!

Plus no more sore skin. I've got a particular sore spot at the moment which ended up bleeding after the nurse took the old dressing off. I asked her if she could put something on it before the dressing but she said the dressing would be ok. She cleaned it which stung like a son of a b!tch and then put the dressing on top. I got home and it was still stinging, so I was a bit naughty and lifted up the corner of the dressing and put a plaster over the sore bit that was weeping and then stuck everything back down. Let's hope it heals up soon.

Anyway, it's 11:30pm and I should try and get some sleep. I probably won't drift off for a while as I'm having a bad pain evening. Headache and hip/leg pain. I'm hoping the pain killers will kick in soon!

I'm carrying on fighting the good fight! Never give up!

P.S Have you checked yourself recently? If not, do it now!