I got a phone call last night on my mobile. It was Murray. In NZ it was 3am and he was driving a rented camper-van to some desolate out-of-the-way spot as part of the PP Rally team's 2008 WRC campaign.
First thing Murray says is "Gee you sound pretty good!". "Thanks.. yeah I'm not dead yet" I reply. Later I went online and checked my email, Blog comments and MSN contacts. Ashleigh was on MSN Messenger and she commented that I look really well in the photos I've posted.
That got me thinking, yeah I do look well. The point of getting treatment straight away was because I was in good shape. I didn't want to let myself run down to a point that I was so ill that I could barely handle the chemo.
So I thought I'd take a look at where I am at physically as of this morning, Friday August 29th 2008. ...
For some reason, of which I have no explanation, My hair is darker than it has naturally been in probably 20 years. The radiation racing stripes on the back of my neck have almost totally disappeared. (I had two large bald strips running from my neck to the top of my head, post radiation)
My weight is barely 69Kg's, I haven't been this light since I clicked over to 70kg on my way to 71 and beyond, one day back in 1978. The steroids have robbed me of bone density, and muscle. Sitting in a small room 24/7 doesn't exactly build muscle mass either.
I have no symptoms of disease, not an ache, a cough, an itch or a bead of sweat has occurred that is disease related since having the first cycle of Chemo 14 days ago.
I have a ringing in my ears that has gotten louder over the last couple of days, it's worse at night when I turn out the light, but I can hear it over most things.. even the TV. It was caused by the drug Cisplatin, part of the chemo regimen, and is a common side effect. However it can be blocked out mentally, I just need to program myself to do it. Earlier today I thought it had gone, and I had to refocus back on it, and there is was.. a constant high pitched ring.. like that of a dog whistle but just a few Hz lower. I figure if I can get to a point that I just accept it and block it as best I can, I'll be fine.. otherwise, I'm told sanity is over-rated anyway.
Veins are a mess, we put a new cannula into my right wrist this morning, I say we, but it was Dr Glonti who slid the 50mm long needle into the vein, I did the easy part, winced and turned grey. Oddly the needle will only flow one way, he tried to extract a blood sample from it but nothing flowed. IV Fluids rocket down the line no problem at all. Sooo that meant another needle had to be slid into a vein on the back of my hand for the test. I got all four Infusions out of the way really quickly this morning, cranking the drip rate up to several a second.
Bloods.. Well I'm mildly optimistic there too, White blood count has doubled again overnight and now sits at 1.1, still low but enough to be allowed outside and not to have everyone wearing masks anymore. Platelets dropped from 61 yesterday to 38 today. That was expected so I'm not concerned about that, we are nearly twice the figure that spontaneous bleeding can occur. I'll be hoping for an increase or at least no further drops over the next day or so. Overall the blood counts are good news and it looks like I am out of the danger zone now and on my way to growing some new marrow.
My sense of taste has taken a beating again, but nowhere near as bad as from radiation. I guess it's at about 60% of normal and should return in a week or so to the 90% figure it was at before I started treatment. Further taste improvement will come in time, and also improve as my saliva flow increases over the next 6 months or so.
I spoke to Dr K this morning about a schedule for treatment and he said he will have one typed up for me. He believes that perhaps by Monday I may be healthy enough to leave the clinic's care and stay elsewhere. If he postpones the second cycle of chemo until I have a platelet count higher than 100, we may try and return to NZ between times, however it would be second guessing to make any firm plans right now. This in itself is a constant cause of anxiety, not knowing how, where, when or if treatment will continue. Roll on Monday and some good blood counts.
Energy levels are good, I don't have to sit down after every movement greater than a four meter walk. I can handle the stairs again ok with just a slightly elevated heart rate to show for it.
So, over-all I feel completely normal, probably the same as any of you reading, maybe for some, better ;) My body has been decimated a little, but I'm sure that it's nothing six months of good eating and exercise can't fix.
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