Chemo Warfare - Day 6

Hello Chemically Free Humans,

Just a short rant today as I am at Day 6 of the first cycle of chemo and cant seem to muster enough energy to do more than some light housework chores and then crash on the couch (again.......) The first few days were or marginal consequence and negligible discomfort but over the last two days, the symptons combined with an infection have taken their toll.

At chemo last Thursday I intended to have a doctor look at my left breast (the one from which the lump was removed) which was swollen and hard but in all the processes that were going on, both myself and the nursing team forgot to call a doctor. Hence by Sunday it was still bad. My night sleep was punctuated by soaring temperature surges followed by chills running through my body. Not pleasant. So on Monday morning I headed into Peter Mac and after a further expiration of the fluid from the left breast and a coarse of anti-biotics in hand, I headed home to rest.

My good friend Pauline was also having a "procedure" on the same day and it is now official. We have turned into our respective mothers as we found ourselves discussing the bits and pieces, pros and cons of all this sort of stuff. As she rightly said. "When did we turn into middle aged ladies.?" It seems like only last week we were frocked up and headed to the Madness concert at Festival Hall in our early twenties.

To find oneself middle aged is rough enough but to have to manage these syptoms as well is a tad taxing. The continuous nasuea isnt wonderful but it is something you can be distracted from. And the drugs seem to do their job rather well. But the one thing that I cant get away from is the next symptom. Imagine your mouth is filled with an extremely large piece of cotton wool that had been soaked in saccharine. That is how my mouth feels all the time. And when I swallow, its like I am continuously drinking fake sweet water ! Totally vile.

I am quite tired  but that is nothing a lie on the couch or the bed can't fix. What is extremely uncomfortable are the swings in body temperature which are now very frequent. My hair becomes immediately damp and plasters stickily around my neck and forehead. My face burns and I have to take off my outer layers of clothing quickly before they too become damp. And then the reverse comes.

A short blessed relief as my perspiration dries cool on my skin in the air, quickly becomes horridly cold and uncomfortable as a low level of chill starts to hit my body as I scramble to cover up. This cycle happens alot during the day but is incredibly frequent at night time. This is exhausting and disruptive and just sucks.

The sum total of all of this is that even the smallest of task seems monumental in effort. I am having difficulty maintiaing a committment to reading which is something I have always loved to do but even something like having a shower, appears before me like a gargantuan task. I bloody hope that this gets better because it is really tough.

Stay warm.

Kellyxxx