Waiting for the storm

So far, so good on the side effects front. Slight headache, but that’s all.

I was told to expect nausea and fatigue, so I’ve spent most of the day waiting to feel sick and tired.

Breakfast today

For the moment at least, the pre-chemo anti-nausea treatment and the three different lots of anti-nausea tablets I’ve taken throughout the day and will be taking for the next couple of days seem to be doing their job.

I still run when I go up the stairs.That’s the habit of a lifetime, so the day I’m unable to do that is the day I know I’m suffering from fatigue. That will come, although to what degree I obviously won’t know ’til I get there.

There are all number of other possible side effects. If they happen, they happen. Just because you don’t get them at the start doesn’t mean you won’t get them as treatment progresses. That’s because the side effects of the chemo are cumulative, ie they increase with each dose, although not always. So it’s like knowing there’s a storm on the horizon but not knowing how bad it’s going to be… or whether you’ll be lucky and miss the worst of it.

I was back at the hospital today for an injection of Lonquex, a product that helps boost your white blood cells post-chemo and so helps ward off infection. In official speak, “Lonquex is a medicine that contains the active substance lipegfilgrastim. It is used to reduce the duration of neutropenia (low levels of neutrophils, a type of white blood cell) and the occurrence of febrile neutropenia (neutropenia with fever) in adult cancer patients receiving cytotoxic chemotherapy.”

This medicine has to be taken 24 hours after each chemo session. One of the nurses performed the injection today and showed me how to do it so I can do it at home from now on. According to the official product information: “Self-administration of Lonquex should only be performed by patients who are well motivated, adequately trained and have access to expert advice.” I guess that includes me then. What a learning experience this whole thing is turning out to be.

Today was GCSE results day for older son. That went well. A good note on which to end.