It's about time -- I think -- to record progress during and after my drug week. How are the side effects? Better or worse? I'll never know if I don't compare one month with the next. So, here are some high (and low) lights from the past two weeks.
Not that I ever read past entries, that's not the purpose of this blog. (The purpose is to just get it all written down so that I can stop thinking about it.) If I type it in, though, I may remember more next month. So:
Last week was drug week, now it's almost the end of the week after.
Last week: Monday I wake up early, take four Temo (Temozolamide) tablets, the cancer chemotherapy drug. Plus one Kytril to counter the nausea/vomit side effect of Temo. Plus, morning & evening, a satchet of Macrovic, to counter the constipation side effect of Kytril. Ditto all that on Tue, Wed, Thu and Friday.
I've also halved the anti-fit dosage, to one tablet per day. So I should have halved the side effects of tiredness and irritability. Deb says that no, she hasn't noticed any improvement.
The drug week all goes rather well ! No nausea, no vomit, no constipation. Lots of sleep... as expected.
I do a lot of sleeping, a lot of reading. With a couple of loads of washing to fill in idle moments. Can't be bothered doing much else. Sleeping is fine by me. It's that "can't be bothered" that can be annoying.
Tiredness would be a combination of drug side effects -- and having to wake up in the early a.m. to swallow the drugs. Apart from tiredness, side effects are nil. In general, my mood is good. Possibly, I'm too tired to care about much!
This week, the week after drug week:
Monday I'm feeling gloomy. To be technical, mild depression. It's not that Deb is at work, it's that Deb is at work so I should be doing various household management tasks -- but I can't be bothered. Who cares?! I think. I do nothing, know I should be doing something, feel gloomy. Till Deb gets home :-)
And late on Tuesday -- here we go again -- constipation strikes!
I'm trying to identify probable cause. Possibly it's from doing nothing physical -- except a 2km walk at orienteering -- for well over a week. Possibly it's a lunch of nothing but meat (leftovers) on Monday.
I'd like to apply the scientific method, to repeat various behaviours and find out which ones cause constipation. But it is such an unpleasant thing... At best, I will avoid suspected causes and see if I can *avoid* constipation.
Wednesday night I comment to Deb, Right now I'm so miserable that I just don't care that I have cancer... and that's something to be glad about :-)
Later that night the poo rock is ejected, several meals worth of poo follow easily, all is well. Except for the after-effects of overdosing on laxatives: a flood of the muddy Yarra, a flow of the Serpentine, a few PNG mudslides... and now just the occasional muddy trickle.
A good night's sleep and I should be safe to leave the house.
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Deb & I join some friends for lunch. Toilet before we leave home, again before we head back home, then when we get home again. Sheesh! I'm glad that the laxative effects are fading fast.
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I also visit the GP. I need a referral to a specialist, the radiation oncologist. His work is done -- unless/until the tumour regrows -- but he has this thing about a post-treatment visit. Since I regularly see the "specialist" oncologist it seems to be a bit of a time-waster. Still, I'm no expert.
I like to visit the GP. She's cheerful, she's concerned, she is interested in more than just one area of specialist treatment.
While I'm there I have a wart frozen off my leg. (She dumps the leftover liquid nitrogen on the floor, it whooshes and spreads a circular cloud of fast-warming gas... Brilliant!) I also ask about a black mark that appeared on my back. No, not skin cancer... Hmmm, that's not what she said. The word "cancer" was not mentioned. Nothing to worry about, she said, It's just "senile something". The kid's will love that :-)
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In summary, to compare against next month's drug week:
The drug week itself goes very well. I sleep a lot but am awake for a lot of the time when I should be awake. Other than that, no side effects.
Monday after the drug week is bad for mood, I'm both tired and depressed. Depression comes and goes and fades as the week progresses.
Beware the surprise constipation on Tuesday and Wednesday! And try not to overdose on laxatives.
Physically: I run again on Thursday. I push myself a bit up some hills. Still slow but 5km is doable. But I have missed ten days training rather than the one week of my "Cradle Mountain training plan".
I'll see how that compares to next month's drug week. Or, rather, to next month's drug-week-plus.
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Over and out and off to bed...
Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
... Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved
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"Il est bon que le cœur soit naïf et que l'esprit ne le soit pas." … Anatole France
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I could not run 5k in my wildest dream
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