Monday 5 November 2012

Getting it out of the system: chemo cycle 2, days 5-8

It's now a week since Steve had his second dose of pemetrexed/alimta and carboplatin.  It's been a bit of a roller coaster ride....The anti-sickness medication worked well on days 1-5, although messed with Steve's head. He took his last steroid dexamethasone tablet on Friday, so I was hoping that things would settle down a bit on Saturday.....Some hope!

As the day wore on, Steve seemed to get more and more agitated. The feelings of nausea welled up again so he continued popping metoclopramide tablets "as required" and turned into Mr Grumpy as a result.



He was acting like the proverbial bear with a sore head and seemed determined to find fault with anything and everything, including my choice of pizza topping for the evening meal - spicy chicken and peppers. On reflection, that might have been a blessing in disguise....Come bedtime, the feelings of nausea turned into sickness. The last metoclopramide tablets of the day went down the drain along with the jerk chicken and jalapeno peppers, and after that he felt much better.  I guess that's one way of clearing out the system.  It certainly seemed to work for Steve.  

He's managed without any anti-sickness tablets since then, and as long as we keep him topped up with food at regular intervals, the feelings of nausea have been mild and few and far between.  Better still, Mr Grumpy has gone away and Steve is by and large back to "normal" although he still feels tired and continues to take afternoon naps.

So today, the start of week 2 of cycle 2, things at last appear to be back on a more even keel....or perhaps I shouldn't say that for fear of tempting fate. We are sitting tight waiting to hear from other members of the family about the transfer of Steve's mum out of hospital and into a care home, which was supposed to happen this morning.  No news yet....

We are also still waiting to hear from Bristol Social Services about her care/support plan to put in place the services she needs to meet her needs.  Another "no news yet"....

If you are having fireworks tonight, wrap up well, stay safe and enjoy :-) 

Sending positive thoughts and hugs to Jan who has just begun the first cycle of her third chemo regime, and is already suffering with the side effects.


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