So I've basically been putting this off for a while cause I couldn't be bothered writing it up, which in turn has made it a longer post than if I was to just write something once a week or so. But from the previous one I finally got home on the Thursday, there were no problems after getting rid of the temperature on the Monday, apart from the low neutrophill count. was quite tired over the weekend as the four days extra I spent in hospital are normally the days that I build up my strength again, but at least I got all the things I needed to get done, done.
The freedom was short lived though and I was back in to hospital on the Monday to get my next and last planned cycle of ESHAP. I sort of knew what to expect and when to expect it so we were prepared as to when to start certain drugs to reduce side effects which all seemed to go as planned... as such. The main problem I have is fluid retention, with getting 8L a day plus whatever I drink and what I would get from eating too certainly pushed it to near 10L easily. It's a very unpleasant experience being so bloated, the diuretics are great for getting rid of it though and the constant having to have instant access to a loo was much better this time as I had my own room with a bit of a view of the Lisburn Road rather than a car park or the centre balcony place in the middle of the building.
The rest of the treatment was going pretty well and they put me on some potassium fluids to help increase that as I was passing so much fluid it was dropping that which happened the previous two times as well so I was glad they started it before it got too bad at the end of the week... that is until it was the end of the week and the levels were still low along with the Magnesium and so they decided to keep me in to increase that. I didn't mind this and was moved to another room by myself right beside where I was last week. The Saturday the Magnesium was still low so they are keeping me in for another day, that evening when I went to go to the loo, it was flooded so I called the nurse and they had to get maintenance to come out and get that sorted, apparently it was flooding in the corridor too but my shower had stopped it from spreading anywhere but the toilet room and spent the night watching TV on my TV which works perfectly when the antennae is hung out the window.
Sunday came along and I had the hypersensitivity again all over and couldn't move or do anything without being sore, which to my surprise is caused by the white blood cells being high, they were 180, yes 1 hundred and 80, mine normally sit at around 20 (I believe normal is around 5-15). They are so high because of an injection you get after chemo to boost your WBCs, obviously does a good job for me. But they will be keeping me in again tonight as they are unhappy to send me home with such a high count, I certainly didn't mind this as they were going to be giving me painkillers for it, on apparent "strong" on and IV paracetamol, neither of which turned out to do anything for the pain. So basically the whole day I just hid under my covers and kept warm to try and ease it, which seemed to be the most comforting thing at least. My dad came up and we listened to City winning the BPL on the digital radio inbuilt on the portable digital TV that I got.
Monday came and they took the bloods and had extra trouble with the picc line and getting the blood through that. When the doctors came round they said they were going to get the picc line sorted so I'd have to go for an X-ray and then some fluid put into it to clear it up, he also said that the potassium levels were low and they'd keep me in till that was higher, which peeved me off cause the last two days they were fine then suddenly today all crap again, but once I got over that I was happy that at least I'd get to see The Island in peace. Nurse came round soon after the doctors to take bloods because the readings they got weren't right, because of the way the other nurse had taken the bloods in the morning. I'll not say anything about the blunders earlier in the week, one of which possibly could have killed me if I didn't notice it. Anyway later I went and got my X-ray which I walked down to which was good, done me out though and came back, that's basically all that happened hospital-wise even the potassium wasn't started to quite late. Next day the docs came round I made sure they were aware of the mix-up yesterday and they were happy with the counts today, so I just had to wait for the picc line to be cleared which was supposed to be done yesterday. Finally got home just after 5 and ate too much for dinner.
The next while is going to be tough recovering from being in for so long and not getting my fitness back after the previous cycle, which was very evident on Friday, I got a call on Thursday to say about a last minute cancelation and to come up for my CT scan, would prefer it to be next week due to just getting the chemo last week but it's good enough I guess being on the Friday, after I had to go to the GP to pick up my sick line and walked home from there, was completely done out. I just have no energy and get quite sore after.
Saturday I woke up and had a bit of a temperature, took a couple of paracetamol and it cleared up for the rest of the day, this has now been a recurring thing all week, although the temp hasn't reached that critical point were I feel I need to get in contact with hospital and each day I've had different problems joining it, Sunday was my chest being sore with deep breaths, Monday was my back throbbing and a bit of chest, Tuesday was my back again I think, and today Wednesday has been my neck and head, the paracetamol seems to do the job mostly so I'm happy enough at the moment to try and hold off until Friday. I've been trying to get out as much as possible to get some exercise but it's not easy, the getting out and the exercising all I want to do is roll up into a ball most of the time or fall asleep. Hopefully will pass soon, but by that time I'll be on the next stage of the treatment, which I'm looking forward to in an inquisitive way, but not looking forward to in a physical way. Will find out soon enough though I guess.