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Chemotherapy day 13 - Covid-19 and Blood Test

Cycle 2 starts with the infusion on Thursday morning so today I have to swab for a Covid 19 PCR test. The swab needs to be delivered to the Pathology lab at Worthing Hospital. I have a blood test appointment at 11.35 am so will drop it off at that time. From home to home in 60 minutes! A friend is acting as my driver for these visits to hospital. He is retired from a career in the pharmaceutical industry and has a deep understanding of prescription drugs. When I told him about the side effects that I have experienced including my very wakeful Tuesday night he talked about how drugs are excreted from the body. 4 routes, urine, poo, sweat and breathe.

BSC - 4

Xeloda paper - excretion - 95.5% in urine.

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Blood Test Results

 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! 

Oncologist consultation

 I have a quarterly appointment with my oncology consultant, Dr David Webb or one of his team every three month. Last week my appointment was with one of his team and two Mcmillan nurses, Sue and Jo. The oncologist asked how Iam coping with the treatment having had 20 chemotherapy infusions. I told her that I continue to tolerate the drugs very well and am managing most of the key side-effects well and continue to search for solutions for the others. She then told me that the recent CT Scan showed that the two growths remain stable, and the Blood CEA marker has recently fallen to 2, the lowest since November 2021. Most pleasing. She then asked if I wished to have a break, which I declined an ordered a further 12 infusions.

Another Chemotherapy Appointment

My blood test showed that my neutrophil level was up to 2.4, double the result from the previous week. The nurse managing the treatment was Pip and was a delight. The treatment caused some nausea that crystalised ginger held control. All the side-effects from the previous infusion were relatively simple to manage. the potential chest infection is still an issue, the sputum sample has not shown a type of infection so a doctor's appointment is made for Tuesday so hopefully a route to a solution can be found.