My ever present friend and other health issues:

In July 2021 I had a colonoscopy that revealed I had developed a cancerous tumour in my large intestine. It was in the descending part near to the the sigmoid colon. The cancer was removed during a successful operation at Worthing Hospital in August 2021 with consultant surgeon,  Mr Mirza Baig leading the team. I recovered well after the operation and was discharged after 5 nights.

Today I should have had my 53rd chemotherapy infusion, but my blood test results on Friday showed that the neutrophils were at 1.2 (10*9/L). The minimum level for chemotherapy to go ahead is 1.5.  Its not the first time that that this has happened, but because of the bank holidays including the May Day one on 5th May my next treatment will be on 19th May. This will be a break of nearly 7 weeks. No the longest gap, but certainly comes with a level of concern. The FOLFIRI treatments that I am on works best when it is administered every two weeks.  The next CT scan in a months time will be revealing! IN the mean time the deferment has brought three phone calls. the first to confirm the deferment, the second to cancel the pump disconnect IV clinic appointment and book a PICC line service appointment. The third from the chemotherapy appointment administrator to advise on the rearranged treatment appointment. Chemotherapy Protocol COLORECTAL CANCER FLUOROURACIL, FOLINIC ACID (Modi...

Tuesday 16th January 9:45 I arrived at the Amberley unit at Worthing Hospital for my 26th cycle of the FOLFORI chemotherapy treatment. While the process took longer than normal due to a delay in the drugs arriving, but it was easier than usual. As always I am interested in learning useful knowledge. With the clinical educator overseeing the nurse who was at the end of his training I learnt some interesting things. Training takes 5 months, patients can remain on the treatment for a great many cycles. They have had patients who have had 100 plus. The side-effects have been at a much lower lever than normal, wonderful.

 The pre-treatment blood test is important to ensure that patients are capable of with standing the toxic effects of the chemotherapy drugs. My neutrophil and Alt levels have cause deferment over the past few months. This weeks blood test results are ok so Monday's infusion will go ahead. That's Monday morning at 9:30 am definitely early! 

Had my quarterly CT Scan at Southlands Hospital's new Community Diagnostic Centre yesterday. The scan required a contrast dye to reveal the cancerous growths and Omnipaque was used. This was the same chemical as the previous scan in August. On this occasion I seemed to have a reaction with heightened feeling of warming, sneezing during the scan, sudden runny nose and irritated eyes. This has not happened during past scans.  Because of the mid-scan sneeze a second scan was done. Unlike previous CT Scans I was allowed to leave the hospital without the usual 15 minute wait to ensure that I did not have any side effect. Odd. Will discuss with my consultant at the next appointment.

 My infusion yesterday was managed by Baki the only male nurse on the Amberley unit. I think that he set the rate of the infusion at 60 minutes which I fine too uncomfortable. It causes abdominal cramp and a higher level of nausea. I went in at 13:55 and left the unit at 15:45 more than an hour earlier than normal. The highlight of the appointment was a conversation with dietian Alexa. She has been helping me understand how to deal with my bloating and wind and has introduced me to the FODMAP diet that appears to be proving useful. From the last cycle I identified that bloating occurred from day 4 to day 11. I need to collect and understand the data.