Round 5 EOW 1

mychemoromance.blogspot.com

This has been a very different week for me. Normally it goes constipation until Tuesday, followed with a small release and then either Wed or Thurs the big and extremely painful release. The Wed /Thurs release is usually accompanied with extreme fatigue and lots of  sleeping.

This week I had implemented a couple of strategies to overcome the constipation. A tablet called Coloxyl and  a liquid called Activlax. They appear to have worked and changed my first week a lot. It went like this. I got a little constipated on Saturday and had a small release Sunday. This has been continued each day with increasing releases from Tuesday on. Wed/Thurs were a little painful, well still painful though nowhere as bad as previously. My fatigue level also changed with a considerable less amount of fatigue. I also managed to stay awake all day both Wed and Thurs. This is a pretty good change and one I will endeavour to continue through from here on.

Current state of side affects.

Hands and Feet

Well my hands have completed their peel and are a pretty pink colour (new skin) when they aren't red (swelling). I'm guessing that any peeling from here of the new skin will be hardly noticeable as the skin is still very thin so it  just rubs off when it peels. I'll probably remove most of it either in the shower or when rubbing on the moisturiser. Either way I should have pretty pink hands for a while.

My feet however are still going through the peel stage and are a lot more painful than my hands were. I think this is due to my feet having actually toughened up a bit and so the peeling skin is thicker. The thicker and tougher the skin the longer it takes and the more it hurts. Tough skin dries, then splits, then cracks usually along straight lines with shard edges. These edges then dig-in at times to the soft new skin underneath. Anyway the front balls of my feet have peeled, now they just burn when I walk. The heels of my feet however are still peeling, so it will be painful for a while yet.

Eating and appetite.

Another change this week has been my appetite. I have wanted to eat a lot more often then usually for the first week. I'm taking all these changes as good signs. Normally this first week I eat very little, mostly soups, and loose some weight (not much, 2-3 kilos) which I then try to pick up in the next 2 weeks. This week I have attempted to eat more although I am still very limited in choice. I have a real problem with dry foods, by that I mean foods that are not oily internally. Things like chicken and surprisingly some fruits are almost inedible to me. Chicken skin however is a real winner and I can swallow it so easily. Unfortunately it is hard to make a meal with just chicken skin. I wish KFC would sell me just the original recipe skin, I'd be there every other night, ha ha.

This time around I am really hooked on milk and dairy products, although some cheeses cause me to gag. I am having at least one if not three or four milk drinks a day. So much iced coffee! Maybe that's why I have less fatigue, I'm really wired! Anyway, with decreased bad side affects I don't care. I'm also getting my protein this way.

Concerns

The only real concern I have at the moment is that during this first week, for a few days, I get a really bad pain in my middle. I can't say "chest" as it always feels like it is right through from back to front. The ache is often worst between my shoulder blades and the back of my ribs rather than in the front and chest region however it still feels like it goes right through. I'll talk this through with Niall next time and see whether it has anything to do with the Carboplatin. It will be 6 months since my last RNVG so I'll probably be getting another one between treatments 6 & 7 and that will indicate if it heart related or not. The pain is most intense on the Wed and Thurs coinciding with my worst period and it does eventually fade for the remaining period, so I think it is somehow related.

Wow I just did a preview and saw how long this was. I must be feeling a bit better or maybe there was just a lot to say. Anyway I hope you all had a very merry Christmas and stayed safe. Ours was very quite given it coincided with my worst period but that is a small price. no one seemed to mind. Signing off now, I'll keep you posted.

Round 5 Day 2

mychemoromance.blogspot.com

Things are have been very different this whole treatment series from last time. Whereas last time I had a pattern of when I knew I could eat again and when certain symptoms would occur, that hasn't been the case this time. Probably the combination of different drug and different regime for the one from last time.

Last year the first weekend after treatment was always a good one, this time not quite the same. A combination of constipation, steely mouth and tiredness have been more the pattern. Also with the continued Capecitibine rather than 2 weeks on and 1 week off week 3 is very different. There is no recovery period so appetite is the biggest issue.

Eating seems to be becoming the biggest challenge I face. While the physical symptoms such as peeling hands and feet are the biggest concern for the doctors and nurses for me it is a) when do I feel like eating and b) what do I feel like eating. It makes shopping a challenge as from 1 week to the next it changes, and there is no pattern to go with it. Something I really craved for last week is something that makes me want to through up this week, and I can't work it out until I try to eat and can't. The 2 consistent things this time seems to be milk drinks, which I like anyway so that's good, and really watery fruit like watermelon and grapes, which I also like. Every thing else becomes a suck it and see challenge.

Christmas this year will be a real challenge it is smack bang in the middle of my worst period, fun times here we come. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

Feet update

I don't know if I said at anytime that my feet were holding up well but 2 weeks ago they started to peel and they have peeled much faster than my hands. 

I have almost completely lost the skin on the balls of my feet. 

Peeling feet

Quick update.  I didn't think my feet were as bad as my hands but this week my feet started peeling and unlike my hands it is happening fast.  It is not as painful as last year.  I think maybe because the skin is still quite thin as my feet have never really toughened up from last year so even when it peels what is peeling is thin skin. 

You can see from the photo they are peeling fast.