(End of) Chemo, Christmas & Covid!

Firstly I just want to reassure my dear subscribers, all 3 of you (ha!), that I'm not dead. I've just been lazy at blogging and have been enjoying not having (bastard) chemo anymore to be honest! Sorry not sorry for the bad humour - but that's just me.

So, just to catch you all up, I finished chemo on the 7th Dec whoooop! It was so nice to finally finish but let me tell you, the last few were not without their dramas!! In particular my port, it was like it had just given up already and decided to play silly buggers.

Chemo #9 was the time when they could get blood from my port but couldn't get it to flush (so could get stuff out but not in!). So I ended up getting it accessed (aka stabbed with new needles and new people) a few times until a particular nurse wiggled it the right way. I had breakfast with the gorgeous Zahra & Sophia at the most glamorous joint in town - Maccies! Just what every gal needs before a dose of chemo. Baby cuddles and McMuffins really are the way forward!

Chemo #10

When I went for Chemo #10 my port was playing up AGAIN and wouldn't draw blood back this time (but would flush - switching it up ya know) which meant that the nurses couldn't get the blood test they needed from it before chemo to check I was well enough (e.g white blood cells not too low, liver not shrivelled up). I had the port fitted because the veins in my arms and hands are CRAP and so this is where the fun began this week! I wiggled and jiggled and coughed and man handled my port about try get it to play ball (anything to stop them going for my arms basically) but nothing worked which meant that they had to start digging about in my hands and arms as they had to get blood or I couldn't have chemo. A few nurses, lots of fails and after brutally going between the knuckles they got a few measly drops and I had to go get the bloody thing x-rayed to make sure it was still in the right place (in a vein in my chest - superior vena cava) so it was safe for them to put chemo down it. I also got a nosey at my x-ray and had a nosey at what my port was doing!

To prove I wasn't been a wuss - here's me feeling sorry for myself hahah! I looked like I'd been scrapping and 100% told people this!!

Chemo #11 - THE FINALE

I was soo nervous/excited going for my last chemo. I think it was because it was such a massive milestone in my treatment and also meant that would be the last time I would be going to the chemo unit at that hospital (I'd been going weekly for the last 9 weeks and having chemo since the 23rd Aug) and just looking forward to having some time where I didn't have to go to the hospital so much and didn't have the constant cycles of feeling ok and feeling crappy. The side effects had also ramped up massively over the last 2 weeks so my last 2 doses had to be reduced by 20%. I'd been getting peripheral neuropathy - nerve pain in my hands and feet that had been intensifying the more chemo I'd been having as well as tummy troubles. At one point I nearly shit myself halfway walking round Newmillerdam and cried because it was so bad! - I can laugh about it now but at the time I was scared to go places sometimes and would have to take Loperamide (anti-shitters they were known as in our house!) if I was going anywhere just in case. Sorry if that's too much info but its the reality!

I went ready to KICK ASS for the final showdown, face full of make up, including lashes. I got sat in the chair for my pre-chemo bloods and everything went smoothly, no dramas, I was in and out and straight out for breaky for the final time! Apart from thinking we were getting car jacked in the car park when we were driving out of the multi-storey when Tracy surprised me by jumping in the car to join us for breakfast.

Of course when I got back for the chemo my port decided to be a div (it had to really didn't it?!) and give me one last drama. It had gone back to it's old trick of not drawing blood so I had to go and have it x-rayed again. Apparently its fairly common for them to start playing up after a while as they can get blocked on the ends which when you think about it is about right really, it is a random tube in your body and it will try get it out and start F-ing it up. So really its just my body having my back but either way too soon hun, too soon. They we're really busy down in x-ray too so I was waiting an hour all glammed up but now in a sexy gown instead of my cosy Christmas jumper. BUT on the plus side - I got to see my port again and nosey at my x-ray which I know not everyone will get excited about but c'mon I am a student Radiographer! Then it was back up to the chemo unit for one last prickly bum and snooze and THE FINAL PACLITAXEL. Can't say much more than that about it because, as usual, I slept through it all. Then got myself presentable (made sure my eyelashes weren't stuck to my massive forehead and I'd wiped the dribble off), packed all my stuff up and I was off. That was it. Chemo was done. I cried on my way out as I said bye and Thank You to the nurses that had looked after me over that last couple of months and that I really hope I never get to see them again! It's not everyday you say that to people but this is one of those situations where you really don't want to see those people again or go back to that place because if you do then it obviously means that you're there for one reason and one reason only.

The rest of the week was a bit of a blur of my usual cycle of feeling well then unwell followed by a weekend in Blackpool with my dad for his friends 50th (probs not the wisest thing I could have done but YOLO) then I was looking forward to heading back to my in laws for a yummy Sunday dinner but was instead surprised by my family and friends with an end of Chemo party! So again guys - thank you so much! I love you all more than you could ever imagine!

It's Christmaaaaaaaas

Once chemo was done I was determined to have a lovely Christmas in the 4 week gap between Chemo finishing and Radiotherapy starting and boooooy did I have a busy December! We went to the panto, saw Santa, ate out, met with friends, spent lots of time with family and friends. I also had the troublesome port removed seen as though it was no longer required (F U Port!) and it was nice to not be at the hospital at least once if not multiple times a week. Here's some pic's of our December - featuring our yearly hot tub picture (with pink champers - lifes too short to not have things you want!), Roadman Bingo thanks to Charlie (number 9 blud), my homemade advent calendar and the very competitive gingerbread house competition. I did do some resting and sleeping too.

The other big C

I guess it was bound to happen at some point, especially with all the socialising we did around Christmas but we then all ended up with COVID. Well 3 out of the 4 of us did and luckily it was on the 28th Dec so we managed xmas with the family. Jack miraculously escaped catching it despite living with us lepers. Luckily we class ourselves as getting it fairly mild - we got cold like symptoms and just felt knackered. In all honestly I probably wouldn't have known unless I was testing as that was pretty standard for me with been on chemo haha. Spending 10 days stuck in the house drove me bonkers - yup the full 10 days because I kept testing positive but it did mean I got to play on Mario Kart guilt free and binge watch Dexter.

Righteo, thats catch up numbero uno. I will also write another blog on all things Radiotherapy (aka Booby Zapping) soon, hopefully it won't be months this time but who knows!

Love,

Kirst x