Second Chemo

It's been over a week since my second session. I wanted to let things settle down before updating this.

In the week before the session I had to provide a blood sample and following that, a consultation to discuss how I was affected by the chemotherapy. The blood sample showed that things were okay to go ahead with the next session. This will be repeated before each new session.

This time, the process itself was easier, knowing what to expect helped and it only took two attempts to find a vein this time. Obviously, this time there was no need to go through all the possible side-effects but there was still a need to keep me under observation in case of an allergic reaction. Apparently, the risk of reaction passes with the second session so next time I won't have to be kept under obs in future.

There was a little discomfort when the chemo jollop was going in. It was solved by a hot blanket applied to my hand. Apparently it's caused by the fact that the chemo solution has to be stored chilled and the temperature difference is what causes the discomfort.

I took my iPod and sat reading for the two hours or so that the session took. I felt no real effects for several hours and then it was mainly tiredness that struck. Within twenty-four hours I felt washed out and my taste buds once again disappeared entirely.

The tiredness was exacerbated by my inability to sleep more than an hour at most. The bladder issues have been going on for a long time now and the pain was becoming worse. On top of that, the need to urinate was becoming more insistent and urgent. It just seemed a vicious circle, the more my sleep was interrupted, the more tired I became, the more pain when urinating, the less I was able to get back to sleep and it has to be said, the less inclined I felt to go back to sleep because I knew that I'd wake in an hour at best for it all to start again.

The loss of taste was pretty unpleasant again. At one point I thought that perhaps some spicy food would be an answer. I had a curry delivered and it smelt wonderful. Alas it tasted of nothing and I gave up after three mouthfuls.

Oddly, I found myself fantasising about food.

I've been disinclined to get too hopeful when things started to improve around five days after the session because so far improvements have often been short-lived. However, since Wednesday, there's been a massive change for the better. It began that night, I woke once and that after four hours. It was my bladder that woke me but without the degree of pain and discomfort. It wasn't without discomfort but it took a lot less time to feel able to go back to sleep. What's more, I did go straight back to sleep and for another uninterrupted three hours.

Knowing that in the past, this sort of improvement didn't last more than a couple of days at best, I've been reluctant to get too enthusiastic. Well now I feel able to report that things have steadily improved day-on-day and night-on-night come to that. I haven't woken more than once since. Emptying my bladder isn't normal but it's largely pain free, still some discomfort at times but not so that it wakes me so fully. The urgency is still there but the period between needing to urinate is getting longer.

I don't know if it's the accumulated loss of sleep but since Wednesday, I've slept and slept. It's not that I feel as tired or weary as I was, more that I just want to sleep. Between sleeping I feel pretty perky but then suddenly, after a few hours I can sleep instantly and no matter how long or often I sleep during the day, I still sleep at night and wake up feeling nearly refreshed. My sense of taste has been returning steadily too.

I haven't felt this good since I don't know when. If the price of each chemo session is a week or so of feeling rough and total loss of taste followed by this level of improvement, I'll be happy with that. If it gets better with each session, that would be a huge bonus.

I'm due another dose of the hormone blocker on the 2nd of April, provide another pre-session blood sample on the 8th, an oncology consultation on the 9th and chemo number three on Friday 11th.