Update from Aimee

It’s been a while between blogs…….I need to learn to write these more frequently so I don’t have so much to tell at once, I do apologise for this if only I was a better writer it wouldn’t be so hard!!

Well I am officially a ¼ of the way through my chemo treatment WOO HOO 2 down & 6 more to go.

The 1st round went relatively well until 2 days before I was due for my next round when I caught a flu, this dropped my white blood cell count & meant I couldn’t get chemo BUT it did mean I was eligible for an immune booster injection which costs 2k each & I now will receive with each chemo round so sometimes there can be a silver lining to things. This should hopefully help keep me healthy for the duration of chemo & keep me to my fortnightly schedule, by my calcs I should have my very last round 2 days before Christmas, would be nice to have this all finished up before the end of the year!

I was advised that my hair would fall out within 2-3 weeks of my 1st round and sure enough 2 & ½ weeks in it started to fall out & within 2 days had all came out. What no one tells you is how painful it can be……..for the girls out there my way to describe it is when you have had your hair tied back really tight for a while & then let it out & your scalp is super tender, it was like that constantly & to top it off I had bits of hair always dropping off tickling the back of my neck & covering my clothes, so kept having to get changed. So I got in the shower to wash my hair knowing I would lose a lot but literally lost it all. I am so glad I had cut it so short, made the clean up a lot easier especially because my hair was so thick, it also helped me with the transition.

So by the time it came to me finally getting my 2nd round all my hair was gone. The morning of treatment I go for a blood test before I meet with my oncologist, this is so my white blood cell count can be checked. They need to be over the level of 2.5 for me to be able to receive chemo……the week before when I couldn’t get they were down to 0.9 this week after the immune booster they had shoot right up to 15 WOW. So I was definitely well enough for my next round to go ahead. To help you understand the process it’s quite some time spent at the hospital on day of treatment……the 1st 4 rounds of chemo they say takes 1 hour to administer but I am actually at the hospital for about 3-4 hours the process is:

1. Get blood test ½ hour before appointment with oncologist

2. Appointment with oncologist who ensures everything is order for treatment that day & gives me a whole of scripts (she is sooooo busy that these appointments are generally running half hour late)

3. Go to the pharmacy to get all my anti-nausea & pain meds, there is 1 pill that needs to be taken ASAP which gets me through the 1st 24 hours of anti-nausea once taken I have to wait 1 hour until chemo can be administered

4. Up to the chemo room where they hook me all up & as soon as the hour is up start running it through. With this type I am getting at the moment for the 1st part of it while they inject it in I have to keep my mouth cold so I get a yummy Icy pole to suck on hehe. Then the 2nd part just slowly gets dripped in. It usually ends up taking about 1 & ½ hour all up for this.

Apparently the nausea can hit as soon as 4 hours after treatment, I have been pretty lucky on this front so far & haven’t had much at all. For about 3-4 days afterwards I feel a little uneasy in the stomach & need to have small snacks constantly but otherwise been fine, they do literally give me a cocktail of medications all to control the nausea, so must do its job well.

I now also have a heap of pain meds….after my 1st immune booster injection it made my bones & muscles ache quite bad for about 3 days (I was walking around like an old lady). They want me to be as comfortable as possible & also only want my body to only be working on the chemo/cancer so wherever possible will help take the pain away.

Again these pain meds must do their job well, this time after my immune booster I had no body pain what so ever. These pain meds have also come in handy over this weekend when my wisdom tooth has decided it’s a good time to make an appearance & also doing so on an angle. I am currently waiting for the dentist to review my xrays & will need to speak with my oncologist when I see her for my next treatment on Wednesday on if/when they need to come out. The only concern at the moment is if they get infected, my body is just not equipped to fight this off.

I have had my big sis here from Germany for just over 2weeks now with 1 week left. She has been taking great care of us all & letting me get plenty of rest. I did find after my 2nd round I was a lot more tired than the 1st……not sure if it’s because of the added pain meds or as each round goes my body will just get more & more tired. We have been getting out for a walk most day when we can which has been nice.

This week I went to a workshop run by a wonderful organisation called Look Well Feel Better, one of the ladies kindly told me about this while I was hospital getting my 2nd round of treatment & I instantly looked it up & booked 1 in. It is a free workshop that provides helpful make-up & skincare tips & hints to deal with appearance related side-effects of chemotherapy. It was a lovely morning spent & boy did we get spoilt as well, all the products used we got to bring home with us. Through this journey so far I am constantly blown away & reminded of how generous, supportive & amazing people truly can be.

Saying that there has been a small handful of times that I have actually been bought to tears since finding out:

• My initial diagnosis which I quickly knew wasn’t going to change anything so moved on.

• When I lost all my hair which again was just a farewell cry

• Then the one that has mostly made me cry but in a good way is what my friends have already achieved for us through this website & both afternoon teas here & back in NZ. To have no money stress at this time is the biggest relief & lets us carry on a little as life is still normal. What a success you girls are & I am so very lucky to call you all my friends.

I think I will leave it there for now. Right now I am just trying to keep myself healthy ready for my next round on Wednesday…..I’ll try not leave it so long between posts next time xxx