Incidentally my blog has had 19,868 hits so far… and I wonder whether this has anything to do with my fantastic MIL (Mother in Law),Sue who seems to check daily for updateS on news that I may have omitted to mention during texts and telephone calls.
Sue and Rob (FIL) are Danny's paternal grandparents and they have known me since I was 14, when I met Danny's father, Wayne. Wayne and I separated when I was 21 and we later divorced, however despite the separation, Sue and Rob have always been an important part of my life and I am so very lucky to have such wonderful grandparents for Danny.
As Danny grew older, we(MIL/FIL and I)were personally not as in touch with each other as we were when Danny was a child, however they are people that I trust and feel unconditional love, strength and support for and I am eternally grateful to them.
I want to present to the world with strength and fortitude, even in tough times, however Sue seems to see right though me and can detect personal torment, and just by her care and concern, texts, calls and visits it has helped me get back on track when there have been wobbles this chemo round. I'm sure she doesn't really know how much she has helped, but it has been even even more important in round 3;
Steve seems to have found the whole cancer thing more difficult than I have to handle, and does not know quite what to do/not to do or what to say/not to say and it has made this round 3 quite a 'lonely' one for me… if that makes sense!?
It isn't meant to be easy and I know from chatting to other Ladies, that cancer treatment has put even the most robust familial relationships to the 'test'. It will be about riding any storm by focusing on the humour and strengths of our relationship until 'normality' is restored for us… In the meantime I aim to remain a 'Carlsberg' cancer patient and just get on with it and keep on fundraising and raising awareness!
So….. Chemo day … yes… it was the Mohican Hair Dare and I'm delighted to say that the dare raised and amazing £277.22... £10 was donated on the day by Tracy and her mother, who saw the sign whilst Steve and I were waiting in the waiting area!! The hair dares have now raised a total of £938.74 and I'm only £61.26 away from my target of £1000 for all of the chemo rounds.
Thank you all so much; every pound will help; from 'the student pounds' to the anonymous donation's given. Even baby George and Alex wanted to join me with the Mohican theme!
Please check out my just giving page on the link below for my next hair dare and donate if you can. My target for 'Cabbage Patch Capers' Round 4 is the £61.26 that will take the total amount raised for NGH chemo unit to £1000.
The dare involves wearing a 'cabbage patch kid' hair style hat this time. This is all thanks to Taymar and Gill, two good friends, who independent of each other, gifted me a 'cabbage patch kid hat' within a day of each other. It seems I made an innocent comment on Facebook about wanting one! My MIL, Sue has also made 4 more for me and after the dare I will be raffling/auctioning them off to raise further funds.
For every donation made, I am asking for your vote as to which hat to wear for the dare. Here are the boys and girls modelling the hats for you to chose;
The chemo unit seemed busier than usual and there wasn't the 'personal touch' to the nursing care, that made other sessions more 'palatable', But the important thing is that the treatment was given as diligently as usual.
I tend not to be able to concentrate on anything during the session and I don't really know where my mind goes to but the time goes quickly for me. Steve busied himself with his iPad mini and his racing game again. In making himself at home, Steve seemed to be competing for iPad volume with the loud humming and bleeping of Chemo treatment machines……Steve humorously expressed his 'dissatisfaction' that he could not hear his game because of the chemo machines!
So imagine, there was Steve, ipad in hand used as a steering wheel(again), tongue out(again), and now braving an even higher volume on his game for all to hear. I'm increasingly concerned that he will relax himself further next time, into other home comfort habits! mmmm!
This was the last treatment of the FEC part of chemotherapy and I will begin the 'T' part (Docetaxel) in Round 4 of my chemo treatment on 31st March. Prof. Eldeeb had explained in the early day's that I would be starting the Herceptin treatment at the same time as the Docetaxel, and I was a little frustrated to find that the nurses were not aware of this and it wasn't written on my care plan.
The Herceptin is due to be administered every 3 weeks for a year and I'm keen to start this as soon as possible so I may put the treatments behind me and rid myself of the Groshong line at the earliest opportunity.
It seems that If I am to start the Herceptin at the same time as the Docetaxel, this will done over two day's to ensure that I tolerate the new drugs well. When I called the registrar ,Vaida to check out the plans, I was told that I would have to have a further consultation about this and an echocardiogram to look at any effect the FEC has had on my heart. I have since been slotted in to a cancellation for an echocardiogram appointment on 24th March 2014 and have a Chemo review on 28th March to discuss this all further.
Most of Monday 24th March will be spent at NGH as I also have an appointment to see Mr Dawson, my surgeon. This was made following concerns about an infection in my poorly boob. Having woken up in 17th March with the biggest cold sore ever and a swollen, red and sore boob', I was reviewed by oncology and put on antibiotics. Thankfully my bloods were ok and my symptoms seemed to point to localised infections and seroma (build up of fluid). I was seen by a 'locum' consultant from the surgical team the following day and had an ultrasound of my boob. Preferring to avoid 'aspiration' of the fluid ,I chose to ride out the symptoms hoping that they would settle whilst the antibiotics take effect and I will be seeing Mr Dawson as a follow up.
So that brings you a little more up to date and now that I'm in full swing with the creative flow you can expect more updates ,pictures and insights soon!
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