Busy Week

Treatment and blood transfusion passed without incident last week. The colour has returned to my cheeks and until Monday morning I was fine. When I woke on Monday it felt like I had slept awkwardly but on trying to walk my right leg was really painful and I had to sit down. As we were in Glastonbury for the weekend we made tracks home asap. Since I was barely able to walk without a lot of pain, we phoned for advice. This took us (eventually) to Clevedon Hospital to see the out of hours GP who prescribed some Ibuprofen. However over the last two days things have not improved so the lymph nurse who I was seeing today, suggested we get it checked further and I have an appointment with the GP this evening. She believes it to be more blood related than lymph at this stage, but it needs to be checked out as something has obviously changed. Meanwhile my bloods are OK for this weeks treatment so as far as I know this will go ahead tomorrow.

I'm sorry if the updates are few and far between at the moment but we don't have a clue what's happening most of the time until very short notice.

The weather wasn't great for the weekend was it? Typically the sun came out for Tuesday morning, I remember how annoying that was going back to work after a soggy Bank Holiday.

Speak Soon
Sheila x

Treatment going ahead

Apologies for the delay in updating the Blog as promised this week, but there was a lot of uncertainty this week about treatment, which was only finalised last night. My blood results showed a complete reversal from the last time, the white count is fine, but the red count is down. Although I have not been experiencing the classic signs of being anaemic it appears I am. Although when they tell you your count is down you suddenly think you have the symptoms! After consulting the Specialist (whom I'd seen on Monday anyway) he is happy for the Chemo to go ahead today, but I will need a couple of pints of blood to boost my red count, which will be given to me tomorrow. I am now well read on what foods contain lots of iron, to try and combat this in future. Both treatments will take about 3 hours each, so I'll have to find a good book to read. I've also been test driving my Nora Battys and to be honest they're not too bad, plenty to choose from girls, and seem to help too. I'll be having my leg measured again next week to compare to the previous time, it should have been yesterday but I got the time of the appointment wrong :-(, worse still Frank had the right time, but thought he was wrong.

So it's actually very busy at the moment with all these appointments.

Hope you all enjoy the Bank Holiday weekend and we get some decent weather for it.
Sheila x

End of Round 2

My bloods were fine this week, so I received the second treatment for Round 2 today. This was despite having been very tired all week and having to nap every afternoon, so you just can't tell what the results will come back with! Just 1.5 hours and one drug again, only one dose of steroids as well :-( I'm pleased to say that I managed to sell my Race for Life t-shirt(which I hadn't worn) on Ebay so I've added the money raised to my sponsorship money. I'm getting my Nora Battys on Monday, but in this weather I might be naughty and not wear them much unless I'm in trousers. You have to retain some Street Cred even at my age!

Off to put my feet up, doctors orders :-) Sounds like a storm is on it's way again.
Next instalment will be w/c 22nd May. Oh and I finally sorted out the posting clock, I'm not really up at 4am you know :-)

Sheila x

Race for Life Photos

I did it!

The day dawned fine and sunny and we set off from near the pier at WSM. There were nearly 4,000 runers and walkers taking part. I didn't attempt to run, my aim was to get round without incident. Although timings are not the aim, I think it took me about an hour to do the 3 miles, so it wasn't breaking any records. I'm pleased to say that I raised £550 in sponsorship and a further £150 in Gift Aid so a big Thank You to everyone who sponsored me. It felt good to take part and to complete it. Frank is sorting out a few photographs which I will add later. Good luck to everyone running in Bristol races this coming weekend.

Sheila

Round 2

Round two of the treatment started yesterday. It took about 2.5 hours to administer. I'm feeling good, the steroids are taking effect like last time, my leg has eased and the fatigue is gone. Shame I only get 2 days worth of steroids, but they have too many other side effects to use them full time, their prime use in my treatment is to combat the nausea of the first few days after the chemo drug, supplemented by the anti-sickness drugs I can take all the time if I feel sick.
We managed to take a friend's dog out in the afternoon for a few hours and the weather was a real lift, even took my jacket off, that's a first this year.
Still no sign of my Nora Batty's, what a shame :-)

Sheila x

Thank You

Thank you to everyone who has sent emails or added comments to my Blog. It's great to have everyone's support, and to hear from friends and colleagues. Many of you are first-time bloggers like me, I hope you agree it's a good way of keeping everyone posted, and I've had 3 messages from Down Under too.

I have been told today my blood counts are fine and I will be getting the next round of treatment starting tomorrow. That's great news as I hope it will help me with Sunday's Race for Life, the steroids they give to combat nausea make you feel good for a couple of days, hope they don't run random dope tests! I'll let you know how it went, and maybe get Frank to take some photos to post here if I remember.

Speak soon.
Sheila