Cycle 2, Day 8

Monday 4th February 2019
“Luck is great, but most of life is hard work” — Iain Duncan Smith

I’ll try and keep upbeat as best I can but the usual go-get-em approach has been sapped away a little these last few days, as I get deeper into cycle 2. It’s still not horrendous, don’t get me wrong, but maintaining a routine seems to be slipping further away these last few days and that gets me down. I could be unable to eat, being sick all the time, confined to bed etc etc and I’m not, so I count myself lucky. I am unable to do much at the moment though.

I was sparked out last night about 10.30pm and slept all the way through the noisy routine of Jayne and the kids getting ready for school this morning, waking finally about 8.30am. I stayed in bed, and finally mustered up the energy to go downstairs about 10am, where I made some easy breakfast and setup camp on the sofa.

Sit rep. I am still getting very tired moving just a handful of metres, this is the main issue. All I want to do is sit on my backside and mentally switch off which is not like me. It’s been fairly consistent all day and hasn’t really got any better. I still have a little bit of a sore throat, the back of my tongue and gums at the back are sore. This is making eating a slower affair, not impossible but not as enjoyable. My lips cracked on both sides yesterday too, right on the joint of top and bottom, which is also sore when eating. Taste is still not 100% but I’m getting used to that now and it’s not stopping me eat.

Despite doing the square root of nothing this morning, Xbox / watching “Sully”, it was nap time some time after 2pm. Off to bed I went, fell asleep pretty much straight away and then got woken by the kids coming home around 3.45pm. I could have slept more but that was me awake, and after about 20 mins I summoned the energy to go downstairs.

Had a gorgeous stew for tea that I’d been smelling in the slow cooker all day, courtesy of chef Jayne. Then it was just been an evening of TV sat on the sofa again, not wanting to move. I’m looking forward to my bed and don’t anticipate any problems nodding off.

I’ve been looking forward to the mental stimulation of dropping back into work, but not like this. I’ll take it day by day hoping there’s an improvement at some point, still no pressure there, just my desire to keep busy.

Perhaps most strange today and yesterday in terms of sensation, my hearing is a bit fuzzy. I’ve noticed that I’m hearing things a bit muffled, like there’s thin layer of cotton wool in my ears. It’s different to the tinnitus I had last cycle, although that is here again. Permanent (degrees of) hearing loss can be a side effect of the cisplatin. I’ll have to keep a close eye on this and it will definitely be on the list to chat with the Dr about on Friday.