Adcetris Day-4, Cycle 1

Well I'm not coming down with anything, I feel slightly better today than I did yesterday.
My back is still aching like mad, and I woke this morning feeling like I'd been wrestling with a gorilla all night and lost.
Now that it's mid afternoon I basically feel OK, a little achy and that's about it.
I've had a slightly uncomfortable stomach for the last couple of days and felt the need to urgently use the toilet a couple of times, but it's never really gotten to the diarrhea stage. A side effect of the Adcetris?

It's early days yet but I think there has been a slight improvement in both my cough and itch, this might just be wishful thinking so I'll wait a few more days before declaring a definate result.

The talk at the car club last night went well. I really had no idea what I was going to talk about when I first stood up. I wasn't even sure I was going to be able to talk without coughing.
I started out by talking about finding the enlarged lymph node on my neck back in 2005, from there I told the audience we could head off on several different tangents. My motorsport and how cancer has driven me to achieve in that area,  a brief overview of my medical treatments or any number of tangents from there.

We decided to stick with the cancer journey. I was expected to talk for around 15 minutes. I gave a talk that lasted well over an hour and yet only just brushed over most aspects of my treatment and various escapades related to it over the last seven years. I had to keep saying "but that's another story, so we won't go down that path", If I'd tried to cover everything we would have been there until 3am!

I think the other car club members enjoyed the talk, I got a few laughs out of them and no one seemed to be in any hurry to leave.  ..a most enjoyable night.  I'll have to do a talk on my motorsport one day!.. :)

..Till Tomorrow

Adcetris Day-3, Cycle 1

Maybe today I'll grow that third arm.

I feel like crap. I have flu-like symptoms,  general body aches and basically feeling unwell.
It could be the chemo, or it could be that I'm coming down with something.
My back ache is now so bad it's the centre of my world, and it's a world of pain and discomfort..
It was really good last night, I think what the osteo did certainly helped, but it's not fixed, only time and few more visits will do that.

Historically whenever I used to be coming down with a cold or the flu it would start as a dull backache, so who knows.

Tonight I have been asked to give a talk at my car club and if I feel as bad as I do right now (2pm) It's not going to be a great night. Oh well, I've certainly had worse. It's more a case of feeling miserable than any real definable illness. (if that makes sense?)

..Ron

Adcetris Day-2, Cycle 1

I couldn't get to sleep last night. My lower back was aching like mad. It's one of those weird back pains that gives you the impression that if you could just twist yourself the right way, something would pop back in and all would be good.

However it soon became apparent that no amount of twisting and turning was going help and by about 2am this morning I was in absolute agony. Two codeine tablets and some paracetamol eventually got me to sleep. I woke this morning feeling OK so I took another couple of pain killers just in case and got on the phone to my osteopath.

By 10am I was on her table have the muscles in my lower back gently manipulated. So far so good.
She was able to show me just how little movement I had in my pelvis on the left side, so I've obviously done something nasty to myself in that region.

Still no side effects from the Adcetris, today feels much like any other day.
Perhaps tomorrow I'll grow that third arm.  ;)

..Ron

Adcetris Day-1, Cycle 1

I woke Tuesday morning feeling like I'd been hit by a train. I don't think it had anything to do with the chemo, more likely that I'd not taken any paracetamol during the night and I was running a low grade fever. Something I do every day, both morning and night. I take one paracetamol and one Ibuprofen and it's usually fixed for the next eight hours, or if I take it early enough the fever never eventuates at all.

Yesterday I missed the bus completely and it was midday before I could get off the couch, everything hurt and my body felt like a bucket of rusty nuts and bolts.

However by mid afternoon I had broken the fever and all pain had disappeared except for a niggling back injury from a moment of stupidity a few weeks back when I tried to undo a bolt on a wheel that was too tight and ended up putting my back out.

So ultimately nothing that I could directly put down to the chemo, just another day. Zero side effects so far. I've noticed a reduction in my cough. That could be an ongoing thing due to the prednisone reduction though, so I can't attribute that to the Adcetris.

Situation Normal for the first 24 hours.

Adcetris Day 0, Cycle 1

I've been a bit slack, this post is two days late. But I'm sure I'll catch up very quickly.

Monday I drove to Palmerston North to have the fist cycle administered. Bringing along my daughter Ashleigh and her partner Michael who are here on holiday from Brisbane, Australia.
Michael's never been out of Australia before and had been primed by his mates about how New Zealand was full of sheep and all the jokes that go with that territory.

It's over a two hour drive to Palmerston North from Wellington and a distance of around 150km's. I'm pleased to say we didn't see a single sheep the entire way there.

The appointment was for 3pm and despite having been to the clinic before I still managed to get lost and only just walked in the door as the clock struck 3pm.

Dr Richard Isaacs was passing reception as we entered and he snatched us away, joking that he thought I'd has second thoughts.
He seated me down in the ubiquitous La-Z-Boy chair, standard equipment in any chemo day ward, and proceeded to try and cannulate me.

I told him I was next to impossible to get a line into and that many had tried and failed. He ignored me, found a vein in my left arm near the elbow and slid the cannula in effortlessly." F@rking piece of piss!" he exclaimed. This doctor's bedside manner and attitude is just awesome! a great guy.

The nurse hooked up the small 150ml or so bag of Adcetris and it dripped away quite merrily for the next 25 minutes or so. Once empty she squeezed the last few drops from the bag, figuring that there was still around $300 worth to extract. A quick saline flush for another 5 minutes and I was free to go.

No side effects, no nausea, I felt completely normal relative to me.
After stopping for a bite to meat at the local Subway we drove home via the scenic route which took us through farmland. So Michael got to see some sheep after-all.

We drove over the Paekakariki hill road, a twisty scenic road through the hills so I could show Michael the route that I went over during the 2009 Dunlop Targa road race. Despite sticking to the speed limit I think I still managed to give him a fairly exciting ride. During Targa we are limited to 200kph, however this time we never exceeded 100kph but it is such an enjoyable piece of road to drive briskly.

So all in all an uneventful day zero. No perception at all that I'd just taken a cycle of chemo.
Day 1 up next.