Chemotherapy starts tomorrow!

It's been two weeks since my last blog and also when Sarah and I met with the oncologist.  It seems longer than that though, time seems to have gone slowly.  My recovery is still going well, I'm making great progress and feeling stronger day by day.  I now feel strong enough for what's to come next.

Round 2, ding, ding...Chemotherapy starts tomorrow at 9 am. Firstly, I will have blood tests to check if my white blood cell count is sufficient to start the treatment. They will also be checking for cancer markers to see if there are any traces in my blood.  If the results are okay then a batch of my intravenous Chemo drug will be made up, which should take around 30-45 minutes to administer.  I've been told, as its my first time, it should take most of the day. I'll be monitored closely to check my reaction to the drug and any potential side effects. The drugs used in my treatment are a combination called GemCap: Gemcitabine (intravenous) and Capecitabine (oral/tablets).  I did touch on the side effects briefly on my previous post, I hadn't been given the complete list by then, I have now and there is rather a lot.  In fact the list is eye watering (which is one of the side effects).  The list I was given from the MacMillan website wasn't overly helpful, more scary than helpful. I had to dig around to filter out what was a common, occasional and rare side effect.  Here are few of them:

Infection risk, bruising and bleeding, anaemia, mouth ulcers, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, tiredness, weakness, diarrhoea, constipation, stomach pains, bladder irritation, swollen legs and ankles, liver and kidney function issues, hair loss (I'm certainly not worried about this one), skin rashes, soreness and redness of hands and feet, flu-like symptoms, headaches, eye problems, effect on heart beat and function, effect on how lungs function, hearing problems, effects on the nervous system, blood clot risk, effect on fertility (I'm not worried about this either) 

I'm hoping to stick with the common side effects as they sound bad enough.  We'll have to wait and see how it will hit me.  However, as some good school friends pointed out the lists of potential side effects of Paracetamol and Ibuprofen are long and scary and we don't worry about them! 

Oh! I nearly forgot I've now worked out what caused my cancer....burnt toast and well done chips.  Thanks to the well researched study with conclusive evidence, delivered to us by meticulous journalists I now know where this all started. 

Tomorrow will be the first of 6 cycles, each cycle will be 4 weeks, three weeks treatment and one week rest, then start again. The last treatment will be Wednesday, June 28th. 
Fingers crossed it does the trick, I'll post on my experience and reactions to the drugs and maybe rant a little more as I've got time on my hands :-)



And finally thanks go to: Mr Steve Woollett, Mark Bedford and Peter Duce for advice and guidance on dealing with chemotherapy. 
   

One Hundred and Forty!

One hundred and forty stitches! That's how many Mr Hilal calculated my Whipple procedure needed, give or take one or two.  In surgical procedures they count the number of needles rather than the number of stitches. That makes sense when you think they need to count the needles used and then the same number at the end of the procedure so nothing was left behind.  I had 79 needles, some will have done as little as a single stitch, others several, and the big count will have been for sewing up my abdomen.  I have to say Mr Hilal has done a great job in sewing up my belly, it looks very neat indeed!

So, what happened with the sweepstake and who is the closest?  Well, the great news is we've managed to raise around £1,500 thanks to all your generous donations.  Hopefully, I can get this match funded by Microsoft to make it £3,000.  As for the results we had ten people that guessed over a hundred, the top five contenders shown below.  The winner being the cloud platform legend who is Jeff Johnson!  Well done Jeff.

1. Jeff Johnson guessing      150 (10 stitches out)
2. Pete Edmonds guessing   128 (12 stitches out)
3. Steve Domeney guessing  120 (20 stitches out)
4. Jayne Hurrell  guessing   117 (23 stitches out)
5. Justin Couzens guessing  168 (28 stitches out)

I haven't worked out the prize yet, that's still work in progress.  I'm thinking maybe a track driving experience, something I can join in too :-)  I'll keep you posted on what I can get sorted, I'll need to play the charity card on this one.

It's now been four weeks since the operation and I'm still making good progress, very good progress I'm told.  I'm drain free and have no tubes coming out of my belly. Hooray! The final one was removed last Wednesday which was a blessed relief not having a bag stuck to my side capturing a tea coloured fluid from my pancreas.  I have to say it did play with my mind a little, I've only just been able to stomach drinking normal tea again!  Food consumption is going well, I'm eating a good healthy balanced diet including steak and chips with a glass of red wine.  An essential meal to help with the anaemia!  I'm actually gaining a bit of weight rather than losing more which is pleasing.  I'm trying to consume as much top quality protein to help speed up the recovery process even more, and it seems to be working.  My sleep has been a disturbed by the pain and discomfort and not being able to sleep on my sides.  However, last night was the first night of reasonable sleep I've had in months, only getting up once at 3am.   My exercise is ramping up, as well as longer walks I'm doing some light dumbbell work, squats with dumbbells and 3 x 20 press-ups.  All manageable, light on the stomach muscles and beneficial to my state of mind.  It makes me feel so much better doing something than sitting on my fast disappearing arse.  So, overall I'm positive about my recovery but anxious about the next step.

Sarah and I met with the Oncologist, Dr Timothy Iveson, yesterday to find out what my next step is.  We spent some time going through the histology results and why chemotherapy is needed to help remove the risk of a reoccurrence of cancer, potentially liver or lung cancer.  Due to the results of 3 out of 7 of my lymph nodes that were removed contained cancerous cells there is no certainty that the surgical procedure has been curative.  There is also no guarantee that chemotherapy will kill off all/any of the cancerous cells but we were told it does have a 10-20% success rate.  I'll take those odds and stack them on my side.  The treatment will involve two drugs proven to be more effective when used together, administered over 6 cycles.  Each cycle will be 4 weeks, three weeks treatment and one week rest, then start again.  There could be side effects which range from being constantly tired to having flu like symptoms and mouth, hand and foot ulcers.  I don't want to think how bad I'd feel if I get all of those!  Some people fare better than others, let's hope I'm one of the ones that fare better. 

I'm now getting myself mentally prepared for the start of the chemotherapy treatment. One thing that did throw me was Dr Iveson wanting to start the treatment in two weeks time due to my speedy recovery from the Whipple procedure, typically 4 weeks sooner than most!  The sooner I start the sooner I finish I suppose.  I'm staying positive but I do think that there has to be a load of luck on your side when dealing with cancer.  So, here goes into the next step with a positive approach and my fingers tightly crossed.


Picture: This Sunday (8th Jan) a foggy walk on the coast at Hill Head, Solent.