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.