Sunday 13th January 2019
“To enjoy the glow of good health you must exercise, ” — Gene Tunney

Sunday was much like Saturday in that we had a fairly quiet day. I didn’t sleep so well, not because of the treatment, but it meant I was grateful to lie-in bed until about 10am again. I sound like a broken record, but I woke feeling pretty normal again. Bit of a cough, laxatives starting to work, temperature normal, still no nausea.

I’ve still been staying “active” to a point, not wanting to down tools completely. We went to Sainsbury’s & Asda at lunchtime to get some bits and bobs, and I started to notice getting tired now from some pretty basic things. I’m usually 10 paces ahead across the car park shouting at the kids to keep up, but today I was lagging. I hadn’t had any breakfast for a start, which was a bad move and I could tell I needed fuel. However, just walking around the shops was a little bit of an effort. It was a welcome break, having a sit down when Luke tried on some school pants. Same again when I got home.

Again I jogged upstairs and back down quickly without thinking, and my heart rate shot up to 170bpm, which is normally the heart rate equivalent of a decent effort up a 7% hill on my bike. Later on again, I was taking the washing down and then taking some upstairs, and I needed a minute to sit down. It’s a sign of the treatment reaching another stage, not to say I feel bad because of it, but I need to adjust. I simply don’t have as many blood cells to keep things going and I’m at that point now where I will limit being physical. I’ve got away with it quite well so far.

There are lessons learnt today from when and how I ate, I didn’t eat well or regularly enough and maybe I’d have been a little bit better off if I’d fuelled myself better.

The plan tomorrow is to work from home, 1st day back, I’ll welcome the mental stimulation to be honest. All being well I’ll get 4 days work done Monday to Thursday, then back in hospital on Friday for my first post-chemo blood tests, a chat with the consultant and another shot of Bleomycin. 1 week down, 8 more to go.

Saturday 12th January 2019
“I’m lucky I’ve been able to spend a lot of time with my family” — James Fox

Another relatively uneventful day along the lines of the chemo treatment / side effects. I woke up and checked my temperature, which has been normal again all day. I slept well, felt refreshed and ready for the day. Appetite, thirst etc all still there. Taste seems to be returning to something closer to normal.

It’s strange waking up on a Saturday with no real weekend plans, and trying to figure out how to pass the time based on the restrictions of trying not to get ill or exert yourself. I am missing bike riding (of course!), although not as much as I thought I would as I think mentally it’s not even in my head as a remote possibility. My family were due to visit but again my uncle, and my small nephew have a cold so we cancelled that visit to us.

The plus side was, we sat in watching a few movies with the kids, sat and played games, things we ordinarily wouldn’t have done as a family, or not as much of. It doesn’t help that the weather was really quite blustery and unwelcoming outside, and only set to get worse tomorrow, as we’d planned to go for a walk too but that didn’t happen.

I’ve finished the last of the medication I was sent away from the hospital with, now I just have a box of anti-sickness tablets to take “as required” which so far they have not been. I haven’t felt the tiniest bit sick at any point this far, which I am very pleased about. I’ve read about others who have really struggled with sickness, then struggled to eat / drink, and get into a real mess without the right nutrition and therefore energy levels. Long may this lack of nausea continue !

I did have a slight chesty cough which I noticed on the Wednesday before leaving hospital, I’ve been coughing today seemingly to clear some phlegm. Later in the afternoon after a bit of coughing, my chest tightened up a little and I paid a lot of attention to how it was feeling. As a chemo patient, I have a hotline to The Christie where if in doubt about anything, 24 hours a day I need to call them and discuss things. This could result in some advice, an instruction to go to see them, or a trip to the nearest A&E. This cough has no other symptoms, and hasn’t done since Wednesday, so for now I’ll wait and see. If it progresses then I’ll get advice, as with anything else that emerges.

Again, I had intentions that other folks going through BEP could read this and get another person’s point of view on everything, so I apologise again for saying that bowel movements are not as regular and causing s a little discomfort. I haven’t found a rhythm with the (self bought) medication yet, let alone know if it’s the right one. I’ll speak to the hospital about it next Friday if it’s still an issue. For now though, I’m increasing my fibre intake and staying vigilant to my fluid intakes / hydration.

Other than that, it’s day 7 tomorrow. My nurse warned me that day’s 7 to 10 are “where it will hit you hardest.” Whether I notice the physical symptoms or not, I need to be mindful that my body will be at it’s lowest point – low blood counts, immune system etc. Another good reason to take it easy again and enjoy some more family time.