The 7 day (head)ache, opposed to the 7 year itch

Well, it's been a good few days since I last posted, but I have a fair excuse (well, I think it's fair anyways).  I have basically been feeling like utter crap!  Since the Saturday before last Saturday, I was presented by the health fairy with a constant banging headache, that wouldn't shift with pain killers.  

My sister and bro-in-law from Nottingham were coming to visit.  I was just having a rest to be on full strength when they arrived and the plumber turned up (he is plumbing our extension).  He announced after being here about 10 minutes that he needed to pull up the lounge floor.  Great, thanks for the warning, we now had no downstairs rooms we could use (other than our teeny tiny kitchen).  My sis arrived but they just came upstairs and alternately entertained the kids or sat and chatted to me.

The plumber then announced out the blue that we needed to get a new radiator.  I was in no condition to, so my wife Sam had to take on the suddenly urgent task!  She wasn't too pleased!

Despite feeling like 20 builders were trying to drill their way out my head, I managed to go to lunch with them.  It was lovely to see them and be with them but my head banging constantly and feeling super tired was getting to me.  Sam finally joined us and had some food and then I had to end the party and return home for a lie down (wuss bag!).

The headache continued with no respite until today (Monday).  It was improving over the last two days and faded away this morning.  Despite having got through 8 outpatient and 3 inpatient chemos, this headache came closed to breaking me.  Anyway, it's gone now, so hurrah!

Tired

Tired seems to be the name of the game this week. It is the week after chemo, so tireness is usually on the cards, it's just that this week especially I've had trouble hauling my lilly white ass out of bed. The worst part is that my wife has been ill too. I know she was properly ill because she didn't go into work and that never happens. She will drag herself into work if her legs were on fire!
So, that meant between us we had to get the kids ready for school etc and dropped off when all we wanted to do was roll over and sleep. Then, when they got home, the same thing applied. They wanted to play and we wanted to find a small hole to crawl into and sleep!
I'm noticing today, I feel slightly more energised and my wife is back at work (coughing and spluttering though). Roll on the next few days as my body rediscovers feeling awake and active (please)

Zombie day again

It seems to be pretty standard now. A day or so after I've finished the steroid part of the cycle (first 5 days) my body goes a bit doolally. Throughout the day I get a really dry mouth and then after drinking something I need to pee urgently and on it repeats. This isn't too bad except at night time, when I keep waking up with a bladder set to erupt and a matching dry mouth. So I empty the bladder and have a drink but know its only a matter of time before the bladder will reannounce its presence. Tends to mean I get pretty bad sleep. Anyway, that's probably more than enough about my water department management - post steroids.
Today, I just felt like Dr Tired, that evil, but slightly slow moving and yawny arch super crimal. We are having some work done on our bathroom, so I had to get up and lounge around until they were done. About lunch time I hit the sack again and finally emerged about 7!

Zombie

George A Romero, that maker of mad Zombie films, would have been proud of me yesterday. I could have easily starred in one of his films. I wake up, thanks to my wife's alarm clock and reluctantly helped get the kids to the child minder. I felt like I was not all there, just in a big old haze. I went back to bed and finally got out of my pit to get some lunch. Not a lot in, but I cobbled something together and then just wanted to sleep again. So, I did! I woke up just in time for my wife to ask me to pick the kids up because she was having a nightmare day at work and would be late. I groaned quite loudly, as all I wanted to do was sleep again. I know it sounds lazy but I just had no energy and felt completely drained. What I think was happening was that my body was responding to the withdrawl of the steroids. For those who don't know, part of the treatment is a pulse of steroids each cycle. By pulse, what they do is give you a high (100mg) daily dose for 5 days and then nothing. The steroids both rip up lymphocytes (which are the naughty critters making up the chest monster) and also give you some extra energy and help relieve nausea etc. So for the first 5 days, they're your friend, but then they're taken away and my body then seems to react. On Wednesday and Thursday (day 1 and 2, post steroids), I'm constantly dry mouthed and need to drink loads of water and then of course am paying umpteen visits to unload said water. That's my first sign, the other one is that where I seemed to have energy the previous days (alright, not loads, but I was happy enough getting up and pottering around like an old man) I no longer do. I think I now know what it feels like to be old (not that I think I am old, but you know what I mean).
Anyway, I dragged myself out of the house, picked up the kids, who of course wanted to go to the park and I had to say no and feel like a real killjoy. We got home and I went for a lie down whilst they played (emptied toys on the floor and caused general mayhem). I was hoping my wife would return imminently to help with bath time (usually okay, but can be draining if certain participants are not being compliant!) but she rang and said she was going to be really late. I suppressed the tears and tried to put on a true British stiff upper lip and say, "not a problem, old girl, I'll just crack on and see you later. Tally ho". Okay, I probably didn't use those exact words (perhaps the "Tally ho" was used, I forget). Again, it sounds a bit wussy, getting stressy over bathing a couple of kids but when in Zombie mode, it's a trial.
In the end, my mission was sucessful. The kids were compliant (halelujah!) and were bathed and tucked up in bed as per normal, with me not far behind.
Today I feel more normal again. I still feel somewhat tired, but not the eyes-heavy-want-to-sleep-now tired. Looks like my body has shook off the post-steroidal yoke and is good to go. Yay! Should feel better each day forward now. Just got to keep out the way of any lurgy carriers and all is good.

Post chemo #2

So, a few days since my last post. Just felt knackered and couldn't be bothered to fire up the laptop. Feel somewhat more human today.

Chemo day went ok. I had my first infusion of Rituximab, which meant I was due a long day. I got there around 8.30 and they dosed me up with paracetamol, periton and some steroids, ready for the R. After 3 goes to get the needle in my hand properly (one came out, one missed and one was a bit leaky. Great), the Rituximab infusion started real slow and all went pretty well. As the infusion rate was speeded up (every 30 minutes) I started to go blotchy and they stopped and loaded me up again with periton and steroids and then kicked off again. During this time I had my check in with the doc and found my marker levels were normal but my white count was pretty low (but ok to continue). Last week it had been nuked and the two blood tests I had (post chemo and pre chemo) had it around the 1.0 mark, so it would have dropped between those days, but I don't know where to.

Weekend:
The saturday and sunday had me totally fatigued and with a headache. I felt like I was hung over but uber tired. I didnt leave my bed very much.

Monday-Tuesday:
Tired, tired and more tired. Really felt fatigued. On the plus side, the nodes in my neck started to become sore on monday and by wednesday had pretty much melted away! Yay! One down, one to go.

Wednesday-Thursday:
Same as monday and tuesday, but at night it was a bit crazy. I just couldn't sleep. Mad, fast thoughts running through my head, just like being a kid on Christmas eve! I reckon it was my body adjusting to the steroids withdrawl and sending me through the roof. I had to get up to pee every hour or so and then drink a load of water again. Mouth so dry. This dry mouth thing is eating my teeth up though. Lots of new cavities coming to town. Stupid cancer.

Friday (today):
I feel almost human again. Somewhat tired but not unmanageable, I don't want to stay in bed. My weight is down, so looks like its eatsville time.