Following yesterday's post where the news was all about what ails me, here's some good news..
Today I cracked back into the 70kg weight range! It's taken a long time but in the last two weeks I've gained 2kg's! Yahoo!! I'm now 70.2kg and rising. That can only mean one thing.. the hodgkins is no longer sapping my energy. I've really struggled to regain the weight I lost early last year, no matter how much I ate. My goal weight is just 5kg away at 75. I'll need to make sure most of that is muscle. The reduced prednisone will help in that it too is no longer sapping muscle mass as much.
My back injury appears to have healed. It's taken about six weeks but it no longer aches either during the day or at night. The debilitating left flank muscle pain has gone too.
Yesterday's body and headaches have not materialised today either.
I'm weening myself off pred at 1/2 a mg at a time. I think 1mg drops are just big enough for my body to throw a bit of a tantrum, as it did earlier in the week when every joint hurt. Yesterday I dropped by 1/2mg and didn't have the same problem.
I had a road trip to Whanganui today to pick up some parts with a friend of mine. It made for a nice relaxing day. Probably just what my body needed.
Yesterday I played on my lathe for the day making some alloy suspension parts for my Toyota race car. I found it really cathartic, I'd hardly call it work. It's probably what I needed as I go through the worst of the chemo side effects. If a pattern has emerged it's that the second week from day 6 to 10 seem to be the hardest. Should be all good from here.. We hope!
PS: No signs of the major adcetris side effects yet such as Neuropathy.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Adcetris: The second cycle. Day 9
I spoke too soon! Over the last couple of days I've developed a slight stomach ache with the occasional sprint for the toilet. The headache has returned and the ringing in my ears is getting louder. I also feel kinda dull.. a bit like having a headache in your whole body.. it's hard to explain.
Oh and not only have I re-broken the rib on my right side after a really big cough last week, but on Saturday I was doing some repairs to Sarah's car, leaning on the seat and pulling on a bracket when a rib broke on my left side! The pain was indescribable! It now just feels like I have runners stitch, so not too bad.. I hardly notice it most of the time but if I move around in bed at night both ribs make clicking sensations.
I've also started myself on a course of synermox (penicillin) as I've had a lump come up on my jaw just below the left ear. It hurt for the first few days when it popped up two weeks ago and now it's painless. The side of my face is quite swollen and I'm looking a bit lop-sided. I've managed to get an appointment with my GP but that's still two days away on Friday afternoon. Hopefully it's just a blocked saliva gland and nothing nasty. Sometimes I feel like I make one step forward and go two steps back!
I've run low grade fevers for the first week of this cycle, they now appear to be declining. It's hard to tell for sure as I'm also taking paracetamol for the joint and muscle pain and that's masking the fevers.
There's no persistent cough still, however I do need to cough constantly to clear my chest of the considerable amount of phlegm that builds up. The itch is thankfully still gone.
Now that I no longer have to take medication in order to get to sleep, I'm falling asleep almost instantly and even when I wake during the night I fall back to sleep very quickly. ..Sooo good after several years of really crappy sleep, or being so knocked out by sleeping pills that half the next day is a write off.
I'm booked in with my GP for minor surgery next Tuesday. He's going to cut open the "thing" on my elbow and stitch it back together. It's actually closed up quite a bit in the last few weeks so I'm fairly sure it will heal up nicely once the scar tissue is removed.
Well that's about it.. all my aches and pains. Other than that I'm in really good shape and have been working both in the workshop and out and about.
I'll post an update after seeing the GP on Friday re lump on jaw. ..Ron
Oh and not only have I re-broken the rib on my right side after a really big cough last week, but on Saturday I was doing some repairs to Sarah's car, leaning on the seat and pulling on a bracket when a rib broke on my left side! The pain was indescribable! It now just feels like I have runners stitch, so not too bad.. I hardly notice it most of the time but if I move around in bed at night both ribs make clicking sensations.
I've also started myself on a course of synermox (penicillin) as I've had a lump come up on my jaw just below the left ear. It hurt for the first few days when it popped up two weeks ago and now it's painless. The side of my face is quite swollen and I'm looking a bit lop-sided. I've managed to get an appointment with my GP but that's still two days away on Friday afternoon. Hopefully it's just a blocked saliva gland and nothing nasty. Sometimes I feel like I make one step forward and go two steps back!
I've run low grade fevers for the first week of this cycle, they now appear to be declining. It's hard to tell for sure as I'm also taking paracetamol for the joint and muscle pain and that's masking the fevers.
There's no persistent cough still, however I do need to cough constantly to clear my chest of the considerable amount of phlegm that builds up. The itch is thankfully still gone.
Now that I no longer have to take medication in order to get to sleep, I'm falling asleep almost instantly and even when I wake during the night I fall back to sleep very quickly. ..Sooo good after several years of really crappy sleep, or being so knocked out by sleeping pills that half the next day is a write off.
I'm booked in with my GP for minor surgery next Tuesday. He's going to cut open the "thing" on my elbow and stitch it back together. It's actually closed up quite a bit in the last few weeks so I'm fairly sure it will heal up nicely once the scar tissue is removed.
Well that's about it.. all my aches and pains. Other than that I'm in really good shape and have been working both in the workshop and out and about.
I'll post an update after seeing the GP on Friday re lump on jaw. ..Ron
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