What a week!

This has been a pretty eventful week.

Monday I went to the GP who took careful note of my aching shoulders and legs symptoms and thought I might have fibromyalgia rheumatica. This can be determined by a blood test, so off I went to have one with another appointment organised for Tuesday.

Tuesday morning I put in my contact lenses as usual, then inserted the drops I use every morning to correct dry eye. Instant agony in my right eye. OK, remove the lens, wash out the eye, wait a bit and reinsert. Done it a hundred times. But not this time. The lens was stuck to the cornea and I couldn't get it out. Eventually, after much bathing with saline, I managed to remove it, but it was still very painful. Once it was office hours I phoned my optometrist who recommended some other drops and bathing, and to get the doctor to look at the cornea when I went to see her. I had to get Kevin to drive me - my glasses are not good enough for driving. The doctor said I had damaged the cornea and needed to spend at least another 24 hours without lenses. And the blood test showed I didn't have FMR, but I did have a slightly high thyroid reading (which opens another whole can of worms). She admitted that she didn't have any idea what the problem was at the moment, but recommended a visit to a physical therapist, an increase in exercise if I could manage it and another blood test (not urgent) to check out my thyroid.

Wednesday morning I was energetic enough to do some housework, then I went to the fortnightly meeting of one of my sewing groups, driven there by a friend. A good day, even if I was unable to eat much of dinner.

Yesterday morning I put in my lenses without a problem. Wonderful! I went and did the grocery shopping to celebrate being able to drive again. I didn't feel like eating much lunch, but found I quite enjoyed an apple sliced with some ricotta cheese.

In the afternoon Kevin took a friend to see his GP. Haddon has prostate cancer which spread to his bladder and bones, and he has been feeling really unwell lately - too unwell to drive. Since he usually has to wait for his doctor to see him, Kevin left Haddon and his wife and went to see another friend. He took his mobile phone, but left it in the car. (Be patient - this is a pertinent fact). At home in the meantime I had decided to do some clearing out of excess clothing. As I reached under the chest of drawers for some unwanted shoes I overbalanced, landed on my backside and fell backwards, hitting my head on the wall. While I didn't blackout, I was dizzy and had a bit of blurred vision. A huge egg popped up immediately on my skull and I had a bad headache.

I went to the phone and tried to ring Kevin. No answer. Then the phone rang. The doctor had been prompt and Haddon and Margaret were ready to be picked up. I rang Kevin again. No answer, so I rang the friend he had gone to visit and he was still there. I sent him off to pick up H & M, then to come home.

While I was waiting I decided to ring HealthDirect - a government telephone service which advises people about their options if they are worried about some illness or injury. It is mostly used by the parents of young children (wish it had existed when our kids were small) but caters for all age groups. The nurse on the end of the line wasn't too concerned until I mentioned my daily shot of Clexane in the list of medications. Because of this, there could be the possibility of bleeding in the brain from a blow like the one I had given myself, so she recommended I attend an emergency department at a hospital for tests.

So off to Murdoch we went, prudently packing an overnight bag just in case. Murdoch is a private hospital, so there is a hefty fee to pay, but there was almost no waiting to be admitted (unlike previous experiences with public hospitals). I still had a whopping headache, despite taking some Panadol over an hour before, so the doctor prescribed an IV painkiller and antinausea drug, and a CT scan of my skull. After 4 hours they decided there was nothing seriously wrong and we were released. In the meantime Haddon had also arrived at emergency to await admission for a blood transfusion and draining fluid from his lungs, so Kevin had someone to talk to while I had my scan. When we got home I managed a few mouthfuls of food so I could take my evening dose of Xeloda and went to bed almost at once.

I have been very tired today. Perth is suffering a cold snap - it was zero degrees Celsius in some parts of the metropolitan area this morning - so I have spent most of the day wrapped in a rug and dozing in front of the heater. I vomited this afternoon - the first such episode since my initial cycle of chemo, but I am feeling OK now. Early to bed I think.

Visit to the eye specialist

I have just come back from visiting the eye specialist. One of my eyes has got worse and the cataract in it could be operated on, but it is not yet affecting my sight in a major way. I was glad to hear that - at this point I would rather not suspend chemo for anything else than urgent surgery. I am to go back to him in a year's time (I am refusing to contemplate the possibility that I won't be able to make it - I will be there!)

Now I need to make another appointment with the optometrist to sort out my vision problems with new glasses. I will have to wait a week or so though until the eye drops clear up the blurring.

I have had almost continual low level nausea today which has not been connected with feeding delays. It was bad enough after lunch for me to take a Pramin in case something bad happened at the eye clinic. It worked, but the nausea is back. Something to write about in my Xeloda diary - there's not much in it so far.

More medical visits

I had my annual visit to the optometrist this morning. It was very frustrating. I have worn contact lenses since I was 18 (OMG - 50 years!) but recently I have been having problems with gunk building up under the lenses during the day so my vision becomes blurry. I also cannot see closeup as well as I used to.

The optometrist couldn't take accurate measurements because of the vision blurring, but she did determine that I can definitely see better with my lenses than with the glasses I have (and hate) for emergencies. She was talking about some glasses to wear with my lenses for close work. Then she examined my eyes for cataracts. I knew I had them in the early stages (I have seen a specialist who just told me to come back in a year or so), but apparently they have noticeably worsened since last year's examination. In addition, I appear to have some sort of foreign body embedded in my left eye.

So off to the eye specialist I go again. I was able to get an appointment for Thursday afternoon so I won't have long to wait for more information. In the meantime, any modifications to my lenses or glasses remain on hold, but I have to use eye drops to help keep my eyes moistened which will reduce or eliminate the blurring.

I am managing quite well with the Xeloda. I am eating small (and tasteless) snacks mid morning and mid afternoon to stop the nausea. No other side effects as yet. The finger and foot tingling from the Oxaliplatin is still present, though less worrisome.