Saturday 15 December 2012

T - 3 days and counting....

So.... just a bit of background really, since nothing is new. Oh, except that I have received the chemotherapy drug I will be taking. The drug is called Xeloda, and converts in the body to 5FU. It doesn't look at all special, just medium sized pink oval pills. I'll be taking a lot; 1500mg in the morning and 1000mg in the evening, every day I have radiation. It has a synergistic effect, which means it makes the radiotherapy much more efficient at killing that nasty thing stuck up my nether regions. I will be doing 28 treatments broken up into 5 day blocks, with Friday and Saturday off, so about five and a half weeks. The main side effect both of the chemo and radiotherapy is probably going to be diarrhea, with fatigue a close second, and loss of appetite in there too. These are things I can deal with, the worst scenario is that I stop working for a while, and only eat chocolate, hahahahaha.
One issue that bothers me is the cognitive side effects of this treatment. First of all, I will probably have a rather wooly brain during treatment, this is called chemobrain and is caused by  neurotoxicity. Short term memory loss, confusion, even dementia like symptoms can appear, and may last for quite a while afterwards. So if I stop blogging you can make an educated guess I've forgotten how, ha ha ha ha ha, ha ha, ahem. The second thing is that 5FU lowers serotonin levels, which usually causes depression. So, if I don't forget how to blog altogether I will probably be whingeing on, for no better reason than low serotonin. Does knowing this help? Does it help when you know you are only yelling at your husband because you have PMT? NOT REALLY.
So, to sum it up, I will be fed up and won't remember why. Or I will forget I am fed up. Hmmm....
On the positive side, it turns out I probably won't lose all my hair, it will just thin out a bit, and let's face it, I have some to spare. So I have dyed my roots, which came out too black AGAIN, grrrr! Maybe it would be better if it did all fall out and I could start again and get it the right colour.
We have finally heard news from Puerto Princesa, not from Cissy (the owner of the mooring Chasamba is on), who hasn't ever bothered to send us any emails at all even to answer ours, but from good friends who have just arrived back there to their yacht. The typhoon didn't do any damage in Puerto, Chasamba is fine, they have checked her bilges and she is dry! Also they have fixed some little holes in the sprayhood for us. We are very lucky to have such good friends. Now we just have to find a new home for Sheva, poor thing, because the person who is looking after her won't be able to do it for much longer. I wish she was here with us, but the trip would be too long and difficult for her.
Anyway, back to cancer talk; I'm strapped in, mission control is running down the check list and all systems are go.

2 comments:

  1. So its 12.30am and I'm reading http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorouracil

    Glad to hear your boat is OK! xxx

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  2. Well, good luck with the treatment. I guess it's going to seem like a long five and a half weeks, but try to tick the days off and think about the end goal. Hopefully you'll feel a bit better during the weekends.

    I went for my colonoscopy on Friday, which went well. The doctor complimented me afterwards on my very thorough preparation, which is a slightly embarrassing conversation to have. Still, it's better than being told (as I often am) that I'm full of shit.

    We're at Mum and Dads for Christmas this year and we'll all be thinking of you! Lx.

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