Tired

I am really tired and it is all my own fault. Yesterday I went to a textile group meeting in the morning. It is a half hour drive from home along the freeway and I am finding driving needs my complete concentration these days. It was extremely hot and I left the meeting early and drove home. Once home I had a bit of a rest, but did not nap - which I should have done.

Later that afternoon we went to the opening of a sculpture exhibition on the foreshore of the Canning River. We loved the sculptures, especially these ones (Bottle Bream) made from plastic bottles, commenting on how plastic waste is affecting our waterways. Bream is a play on words (it is pronounced brim and is a fish that was once very common in the river, but is less so now. It also refers to the rim of the discarded bottles and how they are multiplying - "brimming over")

It was a very enjoyable evening - it had cooled down after what had been a VERY hot day (28 degrees Celsius after a 41 degree maximum) and it was most pleasant to sit after we had viewed the sculpture pieces and enjoy a glass of bubbly and some food while listening to the obligatory speeches.

Today I went to the meeting of my favourite textile group - Designing Women. It was the AGM and we spent quite a long time trying to get members to take up executive positions. I have been Treasurer, but resigned the position for this year. While I want to keep up with my groups, I don't think I need the pressure involved in leadership positions. Eventually all the positions were filled, and we had a workshop on recycling a couple of T-shirts to make one with a reverse applique decoration, followed by a talk from a local fashion designer who uses natural dyes and recycled materials to make her beautiful garments. I was really drooping by this time, but hung on for her talk before I gave in and went home.

I have had a brief nap, but I think I will be early to bed. And Kevin is right - it IS my own fault for doing too much. Tomorrow I plan on doing nothing much at all. It will be day 12 of cycle 5 - Wednesday is the start of Cycle 6, when I will be halfway through the treatment.

And it is yet another day

Thank you to everyone who is reading the blog. I sometimes feel it is just too banal and nobody will be interested in details of my feeding and bowel movements - important as they are to me though.

I haven't lost any weight these last three weeks and as I said before - I can afford to lose it. Now I am not nauseous I eat 3 meals a day even if they taste blah. The only foods I cannot eat any more (BOOHOO! because I love them) are spicy ones, especially curries. They are painful on my tongue and lips.

I have been working on my textile art for the last 2 days (more information in My Textile Blog in the sidebar). I think trying to do the things that I have enjoyed in the past has helped me not to dwell on what a godawful fight I am facing.

Today has been an "ordinary"one. No nausea, no diarrhoea, no taste. PICC line flush tomorrow.

Cycle 5

My white blood cells were OK in yesterday's test, so I had my 5th infusion of oxaliplatin, fluorouracil and leucovorin today and am now home with the attached pump feeding in 100ml of fluorouracil over the next 46 hours.

The oncologist wants me to continue on a fortnightly treatment regime so he has lowered the dosages. Apparently I received the maximum doses on the first four cycles and that was a bit too toxic for my white cells. I am quite happy to continue with fortnightly treatments - I want this over and done with ASAP.

A bit of good news - the CEA (tumor marker) continues to fall and is now 1300, compared to 9000 on initial testing. Still a long way to go, but a really good sign that the chemo is doing the cancers some damage.

I am now booked for another CT scan at the end of this month, though I don't know the exact date as yet. I can't wait! Hoping for good news of course, but really want to know if this has been worth while. I will have had my 6th, maybe even my 7th cycle by the time it is done, so I will be more than halfway through the course.