The Fourth and Final Cycle Is Here

Today I had my first of 4 treatments in my final cycle of chemo. My Thursday appointment for the Velcade injection has been cancelled due to ongoing side effects of peripheral neuropathy.

I expect I will no doubt suffer from Chemo Brain again soon with all the toxicity building up.

Today I had the full dose of Velcade as I missed one (with doctor’s consent of course) earlier in March and Zometa injection for my bones plus the actual chemo and took my steroids.

I may have mild flu like symptoms for a few days so apart from my Look Good Feel Better workshop attendance tomorrow and going to Comedy On The Edge stand up gig tomorrow night, I’ll be resting alot this week.

You never know, the side effects may not be as bad as last cycle as I had acupuncture on Friday just past and I’m sure that helps alot!

Today, no ques for blood test a 35 minute wait for the myeloma nurse to see me in my haematologist absence who advised of a lot of specialists’ being away hence the non existent que, and 55 minute wait for treatment plus the usual dramas with parking.

Basically my support person validates their parking, the machine rejects it saying payment not possible and the security staff almost always try to argue with you saying no you have to pay $25! this has been going on for over a month and I have made a formal complaint and filled in the feedback form several times! Lifehouse sort it out, it’s a shocking customer experience.

You get treatment, you don’t pay for parking. That’s what we were told and we have to call and get security to let us out every bloody time. That’s not cool and it only just started when they replaced the ticket machines.

Finally, well before we left, I wanted to pay my pharmacy bill in full with some of the money from comedy on the pledge. I was advised that a lot of people were double billed and they are physically checking every account so going in alphabetical order it maybe a few months and I can only pay for charges from 10 march onwards.

Honestly lifehouse you have had so many teething problems in the last few months and added so much stress onto already stressed patients plates, not just mine!

Admin and billing and security at lifehouse what I’d like to really say to you I cannot post here!

Arrgh! Rant over. Thanks for reading!

*Disclaimer; I’m not a medical professional or counselor. Opinions expressed in this blog are my own based on what I’ve found helps me. Always consult a professional first*

New Drugs, Side Effects and All That Jazz

Hi all. this week has been a bit taxing on me in terms of side effects.

On Tuesday I had mild flu-like symptoms most likely from the Zometa (injection via IV once a month to strengthen bones).

This is something new and gave me a bit of a fright at first as the Myeloma nurse didn’t think I would have to worry about this side effect and to be honest I was tired and not paying full attention to everything she said on Monday! Chemo brain!

I was well enough to rest during the day and go to my ”2nd home” i.e Comedy on The Edge and see some quality stand up but went home promptly.

I’m like a fatigued old lady, can’t do too much, no partying for awhile for me ha ha.

Wednesday, I felt alot worse and rested more, a non-steroid day.

A co worker visited me at a cafe close to home which was nice as I had not seen him in a couple of months and starting to feel out of touch with the day grind! Apparently, I’m well missed at work!

Aw, well I’m one of the only comics there and it is the insurance industry after all! They need a laugh don’t they?

Thursday, treatment day for the Velcade only injection. I felt pretty sick and was closely monitoring my temp.

I had emailed the Myeloma nurse on Wednesday with my symptoms and asked for advice.

She reminded me that the Zometa can cause mild flu like symptoms for a couple days.

I was still worried as it was getting worse, almost broke out in a sweat. Chemo patients, as you maybe aware especially with immune system cancers, cannot take risks and have to monitor their temps and side effects often.

I have to be my own nurse! It’s cool, I can handle it well mostly!

Two of my mates in Comedy came as support people/entertainment to my treatment.

I had my blood pressure and temp checked which they only did after I talked about the side effects.

Luckily it had gone down since then. Phew!

There was a wait but now I’m almost halfway through cycle 2 of treatment I barely notice the standard one hour or longer wait, in fact I expect it due to staffing or pharmacy delays.

I’m not sure if that’s a good thing however it does show I’m adaptable!

There was an administration issue yesterday but it was a funny one.

I was asked by a Doctor I’d never met before to sign a consent form for all the drugs they have been prescribing and injecting into me for the past month or so! Is there not a delay here?

I don’t get it? Had a chat and perhaps my Haematologist missed something? *Sigh*

Well the Myeloma nurse and other staff in Lifehouse seem to always have to fix up my space cadet specialist errors (nice guy though hahaha) and I got my latest pharmacy bill which will be added to with all the take-home scripts pending in March and April so I’ll just try to pay it at the end before the stem cell transplant in one hit.

They told me I could pay later although the invoice is confusing to decipher. It says in bold that the invoice requires urgent attention however the date on the bill says 6 February 2019 and on Monday the system was down so I couldn’t get an invoice!

Teething problems still I see. Not bothered, bound to happen. Staff are lovely though!

Today, very tired and nausea was somewhat bad, bit of a nagging dry cough one that has been coming and going for several months.

I tried anti-nausea medications but that didn’t work much so I went with sea sickness wristbands from a cruise I went on.

Walking helps because fresh air is always good and lots of filtered water and that eventually worked.

I do feel a little queasy so I suspect the side effects from Zometa still not worn off and Velcade can give you nausea too.

In saying all this it is to be expected that my body is getting a bit of a shock after having the break from the medications for almost 2 weeks then going straight back into it with the addition of a new medication.

Guess I’m not doing too bad then am I?

*Disclaimer; I’m not a medical professional or counselor. Opinions expressed in this blog are my own based on what I’ve found helps me. Always consult a professional first*