Live and Learn

Hello Everyone,

I am pleased to be able to tell you that I am doing o.k and am enjoying the short respite that recovery from surgery has brought.  I will soon be having Radiotherapy, (with any luck), and I have an appointment at the Oncology Centre on 7th September.

My hair has begun to grow back, but as it’s white and baby-fine, it’s not very noticeable.  It looks a bit like this:

My cancer journey has also brought many new words to my vocabulary, nearly all of them medical, and some of them already mentioned in previous posts.  The newest of these is seroma and the reason I have been acquainted with it is because I developed one.

If you’re a regular reader, you’ll remember I was so very happy that when I awoke from my recent operation I didn’t have a drain put in; ha! Well, even if you have a drain, you can still develop a seroma and I did, big time!

Now, the next paragraph is definitely not for the squeamish, so if you don’t like disgusting things, look away now and pick up from the following paragraph.

WARNING! WARNING!            PARENTAL ADVISORY                      WARNING! WARNING!

About 10 days after my surgery I realised that I had developed a seroma and so I did as I had been earlier advised and telephoned my Breast Care Nurse.  Eventually I was given an appointment with a Nurse Practitioner and duly went along to the hospital to have it drained.  If you’ve had this type of surgery you will know that the scar, and the surrounding area remains numb for a time – this is because the underlying nerves have been severed and take time to re-establish.  The Nurse first used the ultrasound to make sure the swelling was caused by fluid and that it was a seroma, and not anything else – sure enough, there was a lot of fluid there and I mean a LOT.  The Nurse inserted a needle into the site of the wound, (didn’t feel a thing) and began to draw off the fluid.  It took a while.  Eventually, she finished and told me that she’d drawn off 550mls of fluid – very nearly a pint, (and for all you Tony Hancock fans of a certain age), very nearly an armful.  It didn’t hurt, but it was a bit uncomfortable and it was quite, quite disgusting.  8 days later I had to go back and have it drained again, but this time she only got 90mls which I am hoping means that things are settling down now and I won’t need to go back again.

YOU CAN LOOK AGAIN NOW

So now I continue to do my prescribed exercises, (3 times a day), in order that I will have sufficient movement in my arm when it comes to planning the radiotherapy.  I also need endocrine therapy, but apparently I need a blood test before the medics decide which type.

Hope you’re all doing well,

See you later,

Sxx

 

Diary of a Sofa Bear

Yesterday was Chemo 3 so I duly went off to the hospital and got plugged in to the chemo machine. I was also given the usual package of anti sickness meds, (all thanks and praise to whomever made these) steroids,  antacid and mouth wash and the dreaded Zarzio which has to be injected every day for 7 days.  I say dreaded, because no mention was made of these injections in the pre-chemo talks, and, it turns out, I am not good with needles.  Imagine then, my delight, when I found out that Zarzio is an integral part of treatment because it encourages white cell growth and staves off the dreaded neutropenia which no one wants.  Imagine too, my reaction when I was told this injection is to be self-administered!  Aghhh!

Well, the last two rounds I couldn’t cope with that so I had the wonderful District/Community nurses come in every day to give the injection, but I must admit, although I was very grateful, I also felt a bit guilty about using their time, SO this time,I determined to bite the bullet and do it myself.

Drum roll please…… yes!  I did it.  This morning I administered my very first injection. It was easier than I thought and didn’t hurt a bit.

Now it’s back to the routine of the chemo cycle, which for me means short bouts of activity and lots of time lying on the sofa, (hence sofa bear), listening to Radio 4.  I leave the audio books until later in the cycle as I have a tendency to keep dropping off to sleep and so missing integral bits of the story.

Hope all is well with you and yours and that you had a good Bank Holiday.

Sx