Wot no Chemo?

This is the world’s smallest update just to let everyone know that I finally started chemo last Monday – yay!

The bad news is that I’m now neutropenic – boooo!!

I felt okay for the first few days after chemo – the steroid high – but deteriorated towards the end of the week. By Friday I had a sore throat and was sent to A & E for some IV antibiotics.

I perked up over the weekend and managed to get away for my friends 40th. They did the Yorkshire 3 peaks challenge for Breast Cancer Care – well done team Natalie!! I challenged myself to do as little as possible and spent a gentle afternoon pottering around Settle.

I was due to have my second treatment this morning, however my bloods showed that I’m neutropenic which means I was unable to have my treatment today. This might sound familiar to those of you who have followed my blog from the start, as I was hospitalised with neutropenia during my first round of chemotherapy two years ago.

Neutropenia happens when your neutrophil (white blood cell) count goes too low, meaning you have no immunity against infection.  Left untreated, neutropenia can be fatal, so the hospital take it quite seriously. As well as the antibiotics, I’m keeping a close eye on my temperature.

I had no energy today so I spent the afternoon in bed watching a mixture of Breaking Bad and Alan Partridge. This might sound like a strange combination but I find Breaking Bad incredibly stressful so I have to intersperse it with comedy. I’m willing it to end.

I’m seeing my consultant and getting my bloods checked on Friday. If my bloods have picked up by then, I should be okay to have treatment next Monday.

I’m hoping they will offer me G-CSF injections again. G-CSF stimulates your bone marrow to produce neutrophils and alleviates many of the horrible side effects of chemotherapy. It makes chemotherapy a much more pleasant experience, however it’s very expensive so they generally only offer it to patients who really need it. Here’s hoping I fall into that category otherwise I might have to do a Walter White.

Fact of the week via an ancient copy of Country Life magazine: Elderflowers relieve cold symptoms. I collected and made a tea from wild elderflowers and the effects were almost instant. My nose stopped running and my sinus pain disappeared. Amazing!