Down the line (12A)
true word is spoken in jest ) I thought I would introduce a classification
system for posts.
U = Unlikely to upset anyone
12A = 1 or two adult references to bodily functions and the like.
PG = Possibly Gruesome if you are having brakfast
G = Gruesome - real blood and guts stuff
E = Emotional - contains touchy feely stuff about how I feel may include depressing sentiments.
Joking aside for a moment, I haven't posted much stuff at all about how I
have been feeling apart from the odd mention here and there. That is mostly
because so far my mood has been pretty good and I have not had too much
tough stuff to contend with.
There will no doubt come a time when I hit a rocky patch and I do want to
be as honest as practical about the whole experience of MCL in case other
people with the disease or similar are reading. ( According to stats on the
blog I have 21 unique visitors so I suspect that is all people who know me
but maybe not)
However one thing I have found from reading other people's cancer diaries,
as I do from time to time when researching stuff, is that I need to be in
the right frame of mind to deal with the more emotional or depressing
posts. Usually it's fine but some times a post can take a depressing turn
just when my mood is a bit low. Hence the E rating.
So enough waffle here is the meat of today's post.
This post as rated 12A and contains mild references to micturation and
runny bottoms.
In with my normal morning tablets ( allopurinol and lansoprazole ) were two
new ones as a prophylactic anti-sickness (anti-emetic) measure for the
forthcoming new chemo drugs.
One I recognised as a 2mg dexamethasone steroid which helps with sickness (
see I told you 'roids are great, they fix anything :o). The other tablet was
new and is called ondancatron.
According to Dr. Google and Professor Wikipedia Ondansatron (tradename
Zofran) works by stopping the vagus nerve stimulating the vomitting centre
in the brain ( The brain has a vomitting centre - who knew? This must be
what is stimulated if I happen to see Jeremy Kyle on TV by accident)
At about 13:00 I was started on one litre of sodium bicarbonate or sodabic.
According to the ingredients on the bag it's actually got sodium chloride,
potassium chloride and glucose in it dunno where the carbonate is unless it
reacts with the glucose to make it. This is to adjust the PH of I think my
blood or maybe fluids in general, it's measured by checking my wee anyway.
This is run over 4 hours and then replaced so I am on it 24 hours a day. (
Yes that means one bag runs out about 02:30 and sets Ivy's alarms off until
replaced).
After 6 hours on the sodabic at about 19:00 was our feature presentation :
Methotraxate
I was given 450mg of methotrexate in 500ml of saline over 2 hours as a
loading dose and then 1750mg in 1 litre of saline over 24 hours. This is
done to keep my initials levels of methotrexate topped up. This runs at the
same time as the sodabic so Ivy now has two pumps.
Once the methotrexate has finished I'll keep up the sodabic to flush it all
out and the methotraxate levels in my blood will be checked regularly to
confirm my kidneys are getting rid of it ok.
In other news, my fellow inmate in room 5 has been moved to a single room
because he has had a very runny bottom and has a temperature. This could
just be the chemo or it could be a bug so while they test a sample ( don't
think about it! ) he has been put into a single room to reduce the risk of
passing it on to anyone.
Although he spent a lot of the day sleeping I'll miss the company. Still
knowing how busy the ward is, it won't be long before someone else is in or
it might not have been a bug and my previous roomie will return.
I had an ok night but with all the fluids I was up three times to pee (
bottles ready at the side of the bed to save the walk to the loo) plus ivy
woke me up when the fluids had to be changed and once more when I was lying
on the lines. I'm ok at the moment but suspect a nap around 16:00 will be
called for.
Mom and dad get a day off from visiting today. My brother is coming in the
afternoon and Andy in the evening.
Hmm maybe I should have another rating of OLP for overly long post. Sorry I
do go on a bit sometimes. Still the newspapers do bigger editions at the
weekend do why shouldn't I?
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