Marathons, records and zzzzz

Well folks, I am sorry that I haven't updated this blog for a while - have you missed me?? Anyway, this could end a rather long-winded update so please feel free to pause here and get a cup of tea (and a few biscuits) before settling down to read through my ramblings! Oh, and if anyone's asking, I'll have a green tea and a couple of organic shortbreads ;-)


Anyway, what's been happening with me and my chemo adventures I hear you ask. Well, I guess I need to start off with telling you about my London Marathon experience. Don't worry folks, I didn't decide to run it on a whim! As many of you (hopefully) will have read, one of my good friends, Aisling, was running the marathon in aid of Sense. Some of us decided that she deserved a cheer squad to help her get through the miles. Her family took charge to moving around the course and being at each of the Sense cheering points (I suspect that they clocked up a fair few miles doing this), so a group of us friends decided to set up camp on The Highway for the day and hopefully cheer her past as she ran first one way up The Highway from Tower Bridge towards Canary Wharf and then back down the other side of the road back towards the Tower of London and the finish line. Having met on what turned out to be a sunny day at Tower Hill tube station, we picked the 13 mile marker as a good place to set up camp. Well, we were actually the other side of the road so I guess we were somewhere between miles 22 and 23. We saw all the leaders of the elite races go past, along with loads of support / camera vehicles. It was beginning to look like if you had a scooter, then you could just sneak up the road along with all the others. Anyway, once the super speedy ones had gone through, it was time to cheer on the 'fun' runners who were pounding the streets. Many were raising money for various charities and a lot were in costumes of various levels of daftness! I think I witnessed three different runners in mankinis! There were of course the old marathon favourites - the rhinos and the wombles - as well as many superheroes, some bloke carrying the Blackpool Tower, someone hula-hooping her way around the course and a morris dancer, amongst others (I'd love to see some of them in training in their costumes). As well as keeping an eye out for Aisling, we also did a spot of celeb spotting. I managed to pick out Nell McAndrew, James Cracknell and Iwan Thomas, but others spotted folks from TOWIE and the diver Leon Taylor. Well, Aisling passed the 13 mile mark a little ahead of her predicted time and despite us all cheering at the top of our lungs, all the noise and the fact that she was running down the other side of the four-lane road, she didn't hear us. At least we knew we had another chance. And that chance came a couple of hours later, with Ais having clocked up another nearly ten miles and on the home stretch. This time, she did spot us with our posters and Irish flags. She was really pleased to see us (or so she says) and looked incredibly fresh. I was so pleased to be able to support her on her incredible feet (see what I did there?). Once Ais had passed us, we cheered on some more of the runners and then as the black clouds began to build, I decided it was time to head home. I was pleased to find on Facebook when I got off the tube here in SW London that Aisling had finished the marathon and had crossed the line complete with both an Irish flag and a Union Jack in an amazing 5 hours 44 minutes! She beat her aimed finish time of 6 hrs and the rain too! I am so proud of her and in awe of her achievement! It was such an amazing day, supporting all those runners and I can't believe I've never been to see the marathon before, having watched it on TV for as long as I can remember. I'm definitely going to go again! Don't worry though Mum, I'm not planning on entering! I'll stick to 5km for now. 


Well, it turns out that marathon day was the last of the fine weather, with last week bringing lots of cold, wet and windy weather. This was not ideal as it was chemo week, so meant a return to the cold sensitivity. Now chemo day itself turned out to be noteworthy. Sarah was on a course in Yorkshire last week so she was having to hand over babysitting duties on Tuesday lunchtime to Mum. With a 10am appointment time on the Tuesday, we were hoping that I would be fairly near the end of my treatment at the hospital before the baton was due to be passed. Well, best laid plans and all that meant that the chemo gods were not smiling on us and we were still waiting to start at 2pm when Sarah had to head off!! It eventually turned out to be a 5hr 15 min wait for the start of treatment!! This time it was a case of staff shortages that caused the delay. They were two nurses down as well as 4 health care assistants. It is the health care assistants that collect the chemo drugs from pharmacy, take the blood samples down to the lab for testing, etc, so it was the remaining nurses that have to take on these jobs as well as their normal duties. The thing with chemo nurses is that they are specially trained, so they couldn't just bring in nurses from many other areas of the hospital. They did manage to get a couple to come over from the inpatient chemo ward though, so that helped a little. It was still a slow old day though. Once we got started, Mum and I sat through the 4 and a half hours of treatment without me causing any trouble - I have a bit of a reputation on the ward from last year when I was often in a lot of pain and sometimes felt faint as a result of treatment - I haven't caused this sort of trouble this time around though!! One poor lady did have some sort of reaction to her treatment though and had to be transferred to a bed and taken to the ward. I heard later though that she was ok, having been given some piriton to counter any allergic reaction she was having (I have piriton, along with anti nausea tablets, before my treatment starts to prevent any such problems, especially now I am on a biological treatment, which are more likely to cause a reaction than the synthetic cyto-toxic chemicals). Anyway, after 10 hours at the hospital, it was finally time to go home at 8 o'clock, along with condom bottle number 5! That turned out to be a record  length of time spent at the hospital on chemo day!! Hopefully it will be a record that stands and doesn't get broken!! ;-)


As the condom bottle had to be taken off again on Thursday afternoon, Mum and I hang out in London for the next couple of days. The weather meant that I didn't get outside but we did go up to the top floor of the building where I live (8 floors up, in the lift - we did walk back down the stairs though) and do some London landmark spotting. We watched The Shard emerge from a rain shower, followed by the buildings in the City and then Canary Wharf. We also eventually worked out where the London Eye is, and picked out the Houses of Parliament. One New Years Eve I really must go up there to watch the fireworks! 


Thursday meant another visit to the hospital, this time to have the condom bottle removed. This turned into another record breaking visit, but thankfully as the shortest time taken. We were there and back in less than an hour!! We did cheat a little though by taking a cab both ways rather than the bus, but with me still sensitive to the cold, we thought it was better than risking the wind chill affecting me by giving me muscle spasms and making my skin so sensitive that my clothes moving against my skin making it hurt (such a strange sensation). My cold sensitivity makes it feel about 20 degrees colder than reality, so I guess I know what it's like to be in the Antarctic!! It makes me feeling like my skin is burning from ice. The most annoying thing when I am outside is when it makes my eyelid muscles go into spasm, effectively making it so that I can't see anything! Thankfully wearing my glasses usually prevents this and I know that as soon as I move out of the cold it will stop! With that, sometimes getting a squeaky voice (sounding like I've been on the helium, but caused by my voice box going into spasm) and being unable to touch, eat or drink anything cold (sometimes even things at room temperature), I am getting a bit bored of this cold sensitivity! I am still a bit sensitive to the cold now and so am having to avoid things out of the freezer and ice in my drinks. Thankfully, I only have one more chemo cycle to go of this round and then this sensitivity should go away!


Anyway, enough of this winging about side effects! What else have I been up to? Well, on Friday, after a lovely yoga / relaxation session with Yogi Clare, Mum and I hit the road back to the family home for the weekend. It was nice to go back and hide from the rain somewhere else, but I'm afraid that I wasn't very good value for money in the entertainment stakes as I spent most of the weekend asleep!! The afternoon siestas spread to the morning as well, but that's the joy of the cumulative effect of chemo (winging about side effects again - sorry). This was the first time that Mum and Dad had been with me so soon after chemo so I think it was a bit of an eye opener for them to see how little my eyes are open!! ;-) I guess I should thank the weather for giving me an excuse to hide on the sofa! I was beginning to think we were going to need to build a boat though! 


Having said goodbye to Dad and Sarah (she was also home for the weekend), Mum and I came back to London on Monday. Yesterday was then a day to rest up as last night it was time to head into town and meet up with my colleagues to celebrate the 15th birthday of our company. I was so glad that I was feeling well enough to go as it had been a while since I had seen some people. Although I wasn't partaking of the wine and beer, it was a really fun night. I really miss everyone at work so it was great to catch up with them all and hear the gossip and stories from the office! Thanks guys for making it a fun night!! I'll hopefully see you all soon. And thanks Sally for making sure I came home smelling of booze even though I stuck to mocktails! ;-) The red wine has successfully come out of all my clothes no probs!! At least I didn't wake up with a sore head like I expect more than a few others will have!! (feeling smug!!) Don't worry though folks, hopefully by the Christmas party I'll be back to my usual drinking self!! After all, I will have to give my newly regrown liver a bit of a road test!! ;-)


Mum headed home this morning to check on the baby blue tits that have hatched in her bird box that's linked up to a webcam - it's like Springwatch!! At last count, 6 or the 7 eggs have hatched! I am now flying solo until Friday when Dad is due to come up to go to my oncology check up with me - I think he just wants to ride on a red bus!! ;-) Then it's time to enjoy the bank holiday weekend before starting chemo again next Tuesday. I can't believe that I have already made it to cycle 6 of the pre-op chemo and that'll be it for energy sapping and cold sensitivity inducing oxyplatin and 5FU until August / September!! I am so looking forward to that and hopefully my stamina will increase ready for the Race for Life on 10th of June and my holiday to Spain a week later! (I've got to end up with some comedy tan lines for my surgeon to admire when I am on the operating table in July!!!)


Well, I think that's about it for now folks, apart from to add that I have watched The Help and My Week With Marilyn this afternoon (both from my Love Film list) and I would give them both 5 stars. I am currently reading The Help on my Kindle, so am looking forward to finishing that to see how it compares with the film. 


Anyway, it is time for me to smother myself in moisturiser (it helps with my lovely rash from the Mouse drugs) and catch some more zzzz's! 


I'll try to post again soon


Take care y'all and if you are in the southern half of the UK, watch out for the floods! 


Night!


xxxxx