She called it my ‘Homer Simpson’
Sorry I’ve been a bit quiet.
Life just ‘gets in the way’ I wish I had something exiting to say that I’ve been doing. But it’s just been work work work!
Few updates:
I was recommended some different cream to try which is hemp cream from the body shop. Absolutely amazing stuff at keeping my bad hands moisturised and not too oily!
- the weird rashes I have that appeared on my hands have started to spread on my arms now. On my hand and by my elbow. I haven’t had it appear anywhere else and I have been checking!
- the toe infection I had on my right toe, still present. Thankfully not as swollen as it was last time but still so uncomfortable. I also have now got it on my left toe! Again, toenail split, boom infection. More penicillin for that, and regular bathing my toe in salt water! e nurse also recommended using tea tree oil on the nail which I have been doing before bed!
- On the plus side - I got discharged from the heart failure clinic completely. So now just under the care of the GP.
- I have some hair growth? My head is all spikey. Plus I have one random long black hair on the top of my head. It broke my friend Sophie when I showed her. She called it my ‘Homer Simpson’ 🤔
- neuropathy is still very much present in my fingers and has started to spread to my toes. The tingling ‘pins and needles’ sensation I had in my toe is still there and half the time they feel numb.
As a result of a mixture of the 3 - mostly the neuropathy I’m on a chemotherapy break. I saw my oncologist on 20-01-2020 and I mentioned the neuropathy. It’s not affecting me a lot day to day, but I find that when it comes to doing Erin’s buttons up, it is a bit of a struggle.
She advised me that the purpose of the 2 week break is to see if the sensation comes back. From what I can gather/remember from the appointment was:
- if the neuropathy is still present/not got any better then they will look at stopping chemotherapy via the drip. Get me prepared for surgery. Have surgery (but different to what I wanted, I’ll explain more) and then have radiotherapy and chemotherapy in tablet form?!
The surgery to look at being different, she advised that because I was going to have, double mastectomy, rebuild taken from stomach etc to not have that option as the radiotherapy will damage the boobs/ leave bad scar tissue?
But to consider double mastectomy, silicone implants in temporary whilst treatment finishes and then reconstruction at a later date. This has hurt my brain more than anything. But I understand where she is coming from! After thinking about it, it could be a better option. I mean having reconstruction and a 2.5 nearly 3 year old is not as practical as it seems. Having silicone implants could mean that recovery is quicker, and then I could postpone the reconstruction for 10 years when the implants would be due to be replaced. That seems more logical now I thing about it. It would be a matter of few days not being able to do much, to then gradually getting better. Where as full reconstruction would take a few months to get better and more mobility! In 10 years, Erin will be almost 13 so much older to look after herself in a way!
- if sensation does come back in my fingers and toes, they will resume with chemotherapy but in an even less dosage. They already lowered it back on 31-12 when I had my last start of Cycle. Which then takes me up to finishing end of March.
The only flaw I can see is the closer this is all getting to my wedding day.
I should of finished all my treatment by now and be waiting surgery. The closer things get to my wedding date, the more paranoid I am feeling!
As I am writing this (30-01-2020) my fingers are still pins and needles and so are my toes. It’s a horrible sensation to have and because they are so numb, they don’t work properly. It’s taken me forever to write this because I can’t type properly!
I’m due to see the oncologist on Monday (03-02) and hopefully I will have more answers and ideas what is going on!
But in the plus of these 2 weeks, I have noticed my taste buds are coming alive again! I had a can of cola and I could definitely taste it!
Life just ‘gets in the way’ I wish I had something exiting to say that I’ve been doing. But it’s just been work work work!
Few updates:
I was recommended some different cream to try which is hemp cream from the body shop. Absolutely amazing stuff at keeping my bad hands moisturised and not too oily!
- the toe infection I had on my right toe, still present. Thankfully not as swollen as it was last time but still so uncomfortable. I also have now got it on my left toe! Again, toenail split, boom infection. More penicillin for that, and regular bathing my toe in salt water! e nurse also recommended using tea tree oil on the nail which I have been doing before bed!
- On the plus side - I got discharged from the heart failure clinic completely. So now just under the care of the GP.
- I have some hair growth? My head is all spikey. Plus I have one random long black hair on the top of my head. It broke my friend Sophie when I showed her. She called it my ‘Homer Simpson’ 🤔
- neuropathy is still very much present in my fingers and has started to spread to my toes. The tingling ‘pins and needles’ sensation I had in my toe is still there and half the time they feel numb.
As a result of a mixture of the 3 - mostly the neuropathy I’m on a chemotherapy break. I saw my oncologist on 20-01-2020 and I mentioned the neuropathy. It’s not affecting me a lot day to day, but I find that when it comes to doing Erin’s buttons up, it is a bit of a struggle.
She advised me that the purpose of the 2 week break is to see if the sensation comes back. From what I can gather/remember from the appointment was:
- if the neuropathy is still present/not got any better then they will look at stopping chemotherapy via the drip. Get me prepared for surgery. Have surgery (but different to what I wanted, I’ll explain more) and then have radiotherapy and chemotherapy in tablet form?!
The surgery to look at being different, she advised that because I was going to have, double mastectomy, rebuild taken from stomach etc to not have that option as the radiotherapy will damage the boobs/ leave bad scar tissue?
But to consider double mastectomy, silicone implants in temporary whilst treatment finishes and then reconstruction at a later date. This has hurt my brain more than anything. But I understand where she is coming from! After thinking about it, it could be a better option. I mean having reconstruction and a 2.5 nearly 3 year old is not as practical as it seems. Having silicone implants could mean that recovery is quicker, and then I could postpone the reconstruction for 10 years when the implants would be due to be replaced. That seems more logical now I thing about it. It would be a matter of few days not being able to do much, to then gradually getting better. Where as full reconstruction would take a few months to get better and more mobility! In 10 years, Erin will be almost 13 so much older to look after herself in a way!
- if sensation does come back in my fingers and toes, they will resume with chemotherapy but in an even less dosage. They already lowered it back on 31-12 when I had my last start of Cycle. Which then takes me up to finishing end of March.
The only flaw I can see is the closer this is all getting to my wedding day.
I should of finished all my treatment by now and be waiting surgery. The closer things get to my wedding date, the more paranoid I am feeling!
As I am writing this (30-01-2020) my fingers are still pins and needles and so are my toes. It’s a horrible sensation to have and because they are so numb, they don’t work properly. It’s taken me forever to write this because I can’t type properly!
I’m due to see the oncologist on Monday (03-02) and hopefully I will have more answers and ideas what is going on!
But in the plus of these 2 weeks, I have noticed my taste buds are coming alive again! I had a can of cola and I could definitely taste it!
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