"Should you ever see me with boobs, Yes they will be fake, The real ones tried to kill me!

Chemo 3 of Round 2:

Hello all, I have left you in peace for a while as life has been flowing on. Considering that this chemo is particularly aggressive/strong, I am coping pretty well. Mind you, I am listening to my body and doing a lot of resting. The post chemo days are spent with plenty of sleep. I take strong anti sickness tablets for two days after chemo and these tend to work for the duration. I do have tablets on standby for the following days, but fingers crossed have not needed them. You can guarantee that I have just cursed that one so.... lol... This past two weeks a very nasty rash has appeared on the back of my head and neck. I have been given a cream to help them disappear, I hope they go soon they look disgusting. I have been keeping myself busy with a lot of activities of colouring, puzzles and ordering acrylic paint to take up painting once again.  It is ages since I last did any painting, this will be something of a challenge.

Following chemo 2 on Tuesday, we had confirmation that Gerry had to be in hospital on Friday of that week. He was to have part of his intestine removed due to Crohn's Disease. He was to be operated on that morning. I was not allowed to visit him on the ward as I would be approaching the period of time where neurtropenia sets in (the period where white cells are dangerously low and leave you with little or no immune system). Gerry's brother-in-law, Willie Dunne, was picking Gerry up at 6:00a.m. Friday morning. Gerry was operated on first thing that morning. He was back on the ward by three that afternoon. I drove up to the hospital that evening so that the boys could go and see their dad. He didn't look at all well and was still on morphine which had him on another planet all together.    The boys reported it all back to me, and I kept in close contact with the doctor and the nurses. I asked if I would be safe to attend the ward. I was told I could visit Gerry as long as I wore a face mask. So I did pay him a couple of visits. Each time he looked very pale, very unhappy, in a lot of pain and quite miserable.  After we left the hospital I decided to take the boys for a treat we went to Masala House in Arklow, where we enjoyed a lovely three course Indian meal. It was a lovely way to end what was something of a stressful day. We left the restaurant and I stopped off at the catholic church where I had a candle to add to the candle light vigil that was taking place. It was peaceful.

The following Tuesday I had my own appointment for mid chemo blood tests. These are the tests that I dread, because guaranteed I always get a call back saying something new has been found. This week was not to be any different. I had a call just after 5:30 Tuesday evening. I was no longer allowed to visit Gerry in hospital as I was now Neutropenic and had absolutely no immune system at all. The previous tests had shown poor liver functions, this week the liver was fine but the white cells had decided to up and go... the readings should be around the 15+ mark, mine happened to be 0.1. Low far too low indeed. Well that put paid to my trips to see Gerry. However I was very appreciative to Martina and Killian Clarke, Pat Clarke and Suzanne Deegan who visited Gerry whilst he was stuck on the ward.

That Thursday Gerry was discharged from the ward and Suzanne very kindly drove him home. Now the hard work would begin. Gerry was sent home with a drain attached and a wound about two and a half inches long, that started to seep. Seep it did, to the extent that on Easter Saturday I ended up phoning the caredoc who came to the house to have a look. We had to go to our own GP on the Following Tuesday the 29th March. This was the same day as my pre chemo assessment which was to take place 11:30 am. Gerry's doctors appointment was at 9:30 a.m. He went to the doctor and our doctor was amazed at the level of leakage from the wound and nothing going off into the drain. On our doctors advice we headed straight back to the hospital, once again at the kindenss of Suzy who remained with Gerry in A and E whilst I went off to the cancer day clinic for my own appointment. Nine hours later we were still there. I masked up and went into the A and E unit and decided enough was enough. I found the doctor that was supposedly treating Gerry, asked for the dressings and at everything needed to clean his wound myself (it was now leaking through his clothing) He had repeatedly asked to be seen and was fobbed off with - someone will be with you in five minutes, each five minutes turned to an hour etc. It was shocking. I had the cannula removed from his arm and brought him home. Worse still, the doctor agreed and said that she would have done the same if it was her. I was given a lot of dressings and told what to look out for. Shocking so it was, all I can say is that I am so  thankful that the cancer ward is not run in the same lackadaisical manner, or chances are I would not be here now.  Gerry's wound is now healing and the bleeding has stopped. However his patience level and understanding of the fact that he has to wait six weeks before driving can resume in order that he does not cause more harm than good to his internal organs is totally going over his head. Is that men for you or just some stubborn people in general?

Chemo going well

The following day was my chemo day. Once again Suzanne took me there. We were there for 8:30 am and seen immediately.  For the first time since last October, each part of the chemo system went amazingly smoothly. Niamh, the head nurse on the ward is great. She does not suffer fools gladly and is as straight as a die. She will tell people to leave when they are blocking the walkways between the Chemo beds, in all fairness it is a very narrow and long ward with approx 20 beds in a row. Each bed is furnished with an overhead TV that you listen to through headphones. The drips stands are either side of your bed and the beds have about three foot between them so it is fairly closed in with little or no room for people to accompany you. On saying that the nurses do so much to accommodate the family member or friend that comes with you. Gerry was allowed in to see the chemo being administered two weeks ago, Suzanne this week. I started by taking my strong anti sickness tablet (Emend), this was followed by an bag of anti sickness drip that flows to empty in a half hour. There is then a saline flush through and then the red A chemo is pumped through, This is followed by a bag of the C Chemo. This took approximately an hour an a half.  Suzanne had left to go to the shop so when I finished I went to the chapel and said a few prayers and lit a few candles for family, friends and all those attending St Anne's and St Helen's battling cancer on a daily basis. I found this particularly peaceful. It is the second time I have been to the church since my diagnosis and actually felt comfort coming out of there. I wonder if this is me returning to my faith, baby steps but they felt really good.

By the time we left the hospital, it was nearer quarter past eleven. As neither of us had had breakfast we decided that it was a good idea to get some food. We paid the parking and headed out of the hospital grounds. We ended up at Rathfarnham Castle where we enjoyed a lovely lunch in The Brambles. I had a very very tasty lasagne with side salad while Suzanne had the Roulade and side salad. Both very tasty indeed. It is good that with this chemo, the taste of food has altered a bit but I have not completely lost my taste buds which is good.

Ceiling in Rathfarnham castle

One of the Lotus's

One of the paintings of the
stations of the cross on the
ceiling

We went for a stroll around the castle and I was amazed at the beauty of the ceilings, the absolutely gorgeous antique furniture and the icy coldness in some spots around the castle. At one point we were in a really cold room, there was quite a haze near the seat in the bay window, standing there it was freezing, you could actually put your hand in the hazy area and feel a distinct difference in temperature, at this point my handbag fell off my shoulder. I have never seen Suzanne move so quickly, she was out of that room faster than Hussein Bolt. I laughed so hard I think a little wee came out....!!! We continued our trip around. The paintings  of the Loftus family were amazing, I wonder if they were the same Loftus's who had Loftus Hall in Wexford? I may look that one up. An artist had some work on display, I enjoy painting and will admit they are nothing fantastic, but dear God, I think the artist must have been smoking some heavy shit when she painted these, not only that, she must have had a double dose when she made up her price list. On this I will say no more.... lol

Chandelier in the
ball room.

We went to Suzanne's house to pick up Saragh (her daughter) and I was driven home to Arklow. Suzanne and Saragh stopped for a short while before returning home. Gerry and I relaxed and before I knew what was what I was doing my impression of Rip Van Winkle. I slept like a baby. That is one of the big affects that this chemotherapy has on me. It totally knocks me out.

Feeling OK just tired
 after chemo

Today I woke up early and took my first tablets of the day, two anti sickness pills and two steroids. Usually I sleep immediately, but today I tried to remain awake for a while. Katie called around for a cuppa and a chat. Very nice time spent catching up. In all fairness, my sentence structure and thought processing started to wane a bit. Katie could see that I was on the verge of falling asleep, and after a while left to let me sleep. I dozed a while, but in the afternoon needed to get to the banks and pay the mortgage. All bills paid and back home for a rest. The smallest of jobs have you dead on your feet. So home it was to rest up. Here I am now just typing up the info for the blog and can feel my eyes closing as I do. I am going to bid you all a good afternoon and evening. I hope you all have a good week, June Dillon, especially you. I hope you have good news in the week and look forward to hearing from you. I also look forward to the visitor I am receiving this weekend, Mum, Dad, My Sister Diane and my Nephew Andrew. Have a good sailing folks and see you tomorrow... hmm I feel and addition to my blog coming on.  Love to you all.