Whoops and Yay! and Bugger it's Cold!

 So.... Scott of the Antarctic has arrived... and his timing was OFF! Apparently, on Saturday night, when it was FOOFING cold, a simple trip to the loo in the middle of the night turned into a bit of a drama Llama situation.  So let's back up a bit to the beginning.

Wednesday I started the new chemo treatment regime with my new poison Docetaxal. With a new drug, we have new symptoms and also there's the unknown on how I react. Day 1 and Day 2 of chemo were good and a relief from previous treatments where I would be instantly sick. I was however, very tired instantly and lots of nana naps and not making it much past 7.30 at night. But I was able to get lots of water into my system to help hydrate and flush everything out. Day 3 (Friday) I started to get the muscle and bone pain that we were warned about and paracetamol was helping. Pain was (and still is) mainly in the long bones and muscles in the legs. Saturday the pain kicked up quite a notch and not getting much relief, but despite having panadeine  forte I was reluctant to take it because of the unwanted side effects (for the uninitiated... lets just say its like passing concrete) but by bed time I'd had enough and needed a break from the persistent aches and pains. So I popped into bed, took the tablets and went to sleep.

About 1am as one does when its freezing cold, I thought it a good idea to toddle off to the loo. And that's where my recollection ends and Rick tells me what happens. 'Cos Nek Minut (for the older or less facebooky - you tube Nek Minut) I'm on the floor, being covered with blankets (or whatever he could get his hands on) by Rick and him telling me the ambulance was on it's way. Funnily enough I thought, yeah, I'll just lie here for a minute. Was all a bit surreal. I've fainted before but nothing like this.

What I do remember is two things, trying to ask Rick where my undies were (one really must try and retain some sense of decorum in ANY situation) and trying to tell the Ambos I was cytotoxic. This means that no one can touch any fluids I may lose during the first week of chemo. I managed to get that out and I remember the fellow saying that its okay, their uniforms repel all things. Gotta have a sense of humour I guess when a half dressed bald woman is lying on the floor trying to make sense and not succeeding. And I swear I hadn't had a drop to drink!

Anyhoo long story short. Trip to hospital, lots of blankeys... those poor Ambos should have hot chocolate machines in their trucks for nights like those! Then transferred into the care of a busy ED at the hospital. I really can't remember much of the first few hours. I remember the nurse trying to take bloods had lovely warm hands, I remember Brian one of my main nurses kept checking if Rick needed a hot tea of coffee, I remember lovely warm blankets. At handover I saw lots of poor nursing staff come in absolutely freezing due to the drop in temp. Rick had gone home to get me some clothes (apparently a T shirt and knickers wasn't going to keep me warm from the hospital bed to the car) and he said he couldn't believe the drop in the temperature just on dawn.

I take my hat off to these guys. They work no matter the weather, with such compassion. They have to deal with dickheads and addicts and rudeness that's undeserved.

All bloodwork came back normal so it was decided that the face plant onto the bathroom floor was due to a drop in blood pressure. So I have been watched by the family, closer than the USA is watching Julian Assange!

Moving forward to yesterday, and after my trip to the surgical clinic for a check up (will come back to that) I popped in to my lovely boss/gp for a check up and because of an infected finger. We went over everything that happened and came to the conclusion that it may have been the codeine in the panadeine forte that tipped me over the edge... literally. I don't do well on codeine normally and have always been careful taking it, but I guess the cancer/chemo combination has made me extra sensitive... so away in the drawer it goes. Will try a different regime for the next chemo treatment to manage the pain.

Back to the appointment with my original surgical team who did the initial surgery. Basically it was a review to see how I was travelling, how the wounds were healing, and to see where I was heading. I was very relieved to hear, that the general team decision (at this stage, because we all know how things can change) is that, pending my scans at the end of radiation therapy (end of October) and a mammogram and ultrasound at the end of the year, a mastectomy is NOT in my future.   WOOO FREAKING HOOO!!!   After months of chemo and then 5 weeks of radiation I am pretty confident that I will be done physically and mentally. So my goal is still to return to work early in January pending my immune system being back up and running. I will start working on that as soon as chemo is done. Magic date for that is August 24th! I will not allow any delays or changes. Only three to go and so the goal line is in sight.