What to expect when you have no idea what to expect!
Day 1 Post Chemo – Xmas Day
As I wasn’t sure how I would be feeling, Laura and myself decided to spend Christmas Day together on our own. We didn’t want to plan things with people and then them must cancel them last minute etc. We also didn’t know what my appetite would be like, so we just bought lots of easy snacking food that we could put in the oven etc. However, we didn’t need to do any of this! For the most part, on Xmas Day – I was fine!! I wasn’t tired or achy, the only thing I wanted was food and to just not move much. Not because I was achy, I just didn’t want to! One of the really important things they make you aware of is contacting the hospital if you get a temperature as this is a sign of any infection and can cause you to become poorly. So, every hour or so, I was checking my temperature, even though I didn’t feel unwell, just to make sure! The only thing I did have to have on Xmas Day was Gaviscon due to heartburn, and I believe this was caused by the steroids.
I think the hardest part of that first day, is worrying about what is going to happen. Waiting to be sick, waiting to feel unwell, and that is why I just didn’t want to do anything all day, just watch rubbish on TV, open our Xmas presents and wait for it all to unfold!
Day 2
Today, again felt pretty normal to start with, other than having heartburn from first thing in the morning which wasn’t nice. My mum and stepdad came round very briefly on boxing day to drop off a roast dinner leftover from Xmas Day! Bless them! I don’t think I had ever seen Laura so happy to see a plate of roast potatoes on a plate and a huge jug of gravy! Ha! I didn’t realize how much she missed not having a roast on Xmas Day because of me, so now she was very happy!
Throughout the day I started to feel tired, but not as in brain tired, just more my body not wanting me to move around too much and needed to sit down. I had the start of headaches coming in also, so for the rest of the day, just listened to my body and relaxed. And for those of you who know me – that is a tough ask!
Day 3
Bring on the body aches! Work up today with aches all over my body, mostly my hips and shoulders, heartburn, headache, and constipation. I hadn’t noticed that since Saturday morning, I hadn’t been to the toilet for a poo!! Constipation and diarrhea are another of those things the doctors ask you to look out for as they can be the result of a bug that you need to get rid of while having chemo. I am not a person to call the Doctors for anything, but in this situation, I thought I would call and just ask for the best treatment.
I called the hotline number I was given and spoke to a helpful nurse. I explained constipation to him, and he just explained to have some stool softeners for 24 hours, and if that didn’t work come back to him, as this is normal! I mentioned the headaches, and he again said that I was allowed to take paracetamol if they were getting bad but let him know if they continue to get worse over the next few days. The body aches will be down to the injections, but hopefully, the paracetamol will help. I also mentioned heartburn. He explained that a lot of people do get heartburn, but if the Gaviscon is helping, keep taking it. There are medications you can take, but Gaviscon is okay to use ongoing.
Just this conversation made me feel better. When being injected will lots of medication already, you just have no idea what else you are allowed to take, so you don’t want to take anything. BUT – chemotherapy is very different from how it used to be. The image of people being sick in the toilet constantly and not being able to move is a complete thing of the past. If you do have sickness during chemo, it is not normal, hence we now have all these resources to people to explain the symptoms, and they can explain what to do, or give you medication to help.
By midday – I was in the bath. Trying to ease my belly from constipation and trying to ease my bones from the aching. It did work for a few hours. The rest of the day was again just chilling out, doing jigsaw puzzles, and watching Xmas’s rubbish on TV!
Day 4
Yes- Dulcolax does work! I was woken at 4 am today with the worst bellyache I have ever experienced. I sat on the toilet for about 30 minutes with no movement, but I wasn’t happy to leave the toilet, just in case! After much belly rubbing, hot sweats, and rocking back and forwards – we had blast off! And I mean blast off! 3 days’ worth of Christmas chocolates, cheese, Gaviscon, roast dinner all came out! And I’m sorry for anyone that has a weak stomach – my god did I wish I had a gas mask! Wowsers – not pleasant for anyone!
After this episode, I felt so much better! The rest of the day I just felt lethargic and spent most of the day on the sofa building some of the presents I was given for Xmas. I build a remote-control car, I build a Lego batman car and a Supra! I hate being restricted by my body, but if I can keep using my brain, it is not too bad! My friends know me so well by buying me lots of models to build while I am going through this!
Day 5
First Day In Bed! Today was a tiring day. You know when you wake up in the morning, and you know you must get up to work, you feel like you haven’t had any sleep, press the snooze button, and you fall straight back to sleep… that was me all day. Even though I had been asleep, I felt like I hadn’t. My body was aching all over again, and the headache was back! The best thing for the headache for me was using cool patches that you stick to your forehead! Lifesavers!
Today was probably the first time that I realized that this is going to be part of my “New Normal”. This is what my life would be like for the next few months/years. If that is the case – okay! I can have a few good days, and then sleep a few, ready to start the next round! That – I can deal with. I don’t think I could deal with being restricted every day – I would go insane!
So, in overview, my first week was nowhere need as bad as I thought it would be. I had, headaches, constipation, heartburn, tiredness. I was not violently ill, I was not crying myself to sleep, I am okay! And this will be okay!
Week 1 of 21 down! Smashed it!