At the time of writing this blog cycle 4 has been been completed, thank scooby!!! Just like the previous cycles it caused side effects. To me the side effects seemed to be a mixture from previous cycles including the first, it was really strange listening to hubby explain them and even worse watching the impact of the crappy side effects especially the first few days. This cycle has been a strange one in a way and I think the thing that really got the brain cells ticking was when I saw the results for the blood test, they came back very similar to the first cycle meaning they had dropped loads!!!strange ???
One of the huge joys of chemo is the side effects NOT!!!!!, to be fair hubby has probably been quite lucky compared to some during his cycles. Cycle four was a strange one for side effects, and in away was similar to the first cycle which was not a good one. Due to the extent of the pain in his hand and arm he was unable to complete the full IV, I sort of expected this as he had the same pain in the previous cycles. The side effects more or less start straight away, one of the first was the change in his senses, hubby was more sensitive to smell and taste which was similar to his first cycle. He smelt the oil leak thanks to the men who had come to fix a water leak and then when eating, the flavours are so much stronger for example crisps. He also became sensitive to the cold, strangely though he could go out side and get things from the fridge and pick up cutlery and glass. Yet he could not drink freshly made squash so had to drink out of plastic cups as the juice became to room temperature quicker, again this was the same in cycle one. If you have not read the blog for cycle one go have a read https://www.wondermami.co.uk/chemotherapy-first-day/ I believe he also felt the cold in the air resulting in him shallow breathing, which is strange as he was able to go outside.
As the afternoon went on, I believe it was time for the side effect to kick in that makes you feel like your coming down with a cold or in a mans case man flue!! Later on that night he had the feeling of being bloated along with the hiccups and was unsure if he felt sick. So all the anti-sickness that was pumped into him worked a treat NOT!!!!! Think it is safe to say that by the evening he felt like pure crap and all he wanted to do was to sleep, which is fair to say is what he did and for the following few nights as well, shame he never fell asleep ? The side effects he experienced today was in away just like reliving cycle one again, just not as scary.
The following day was pretty much the same, it sucks really as all I want to do is wrap him up and make everything like before and I cant. He took the anti sickness tablet and felt like crap for the rest of the day!!! He had the sensitivity in his hand and had the sickness feeling, along with feeling tired which led to him falling asleep on the sofa again that night. Out of all the cycles he never fell asleep on the sofa in the evening, to the point not even the cat woke him when he jumped up for a cuddle. He did go to bed in the evening of cycle one for the first night and that was it as he was so ill. To me he seemed to be lethargic and feeling like crap for a good 5-7 days, which is flipping horrible as to me he got fed up due to lacking so much energy and being unable to achieve much. It’s in these cases I say to him don’t over set your goals, set yourself one thing a day to do and it seemed to work.
Depending on which way you look at this cycle you could say that it was not to bad and yet on the other hand you can say it was horrible and probably the second scariest. The side effects have been similar to the previous cycles, like the sensitive eyes, the feelings of tiredness and sickness along with the hiccups and then feeling like you are coming down with a cold. Not forgetting the pain in the arm and hand and unlike the previous cycles I don’t think he really put any hand cream on for his hands drying out and he never took any Imodium. Another side effect that was similar to the first cycle was how he struggled to process / connect his thoughts to his mouth if that makes sense, he had trouble saying what he was thinking/ getting his words out. The first week was horrible then he started to find his energy, which was brill. It strange how some parts of this cycle had been similar to cycle one, then when looking at how he never had to use hand cream or take Imodium is brilliant. So depending on how you look at this depends if it was an ok cycle or not, but one thing I can say is thank scooby bloody doo its flipping over!!!!!!!!!
Cycle four is over and I’m so glad, its had so many down moments and will continue to give us down times as chemo does that. When supporting a loved one going through chemo, it is a continues journey of heart break. During the hard times all you want is a hug and to be told he going to be ok, you got this!!! During this cycle for the first few days hubby was really ill and lacked so much energy, he even apologised as he had no energy to even just hug me ? which is tough. It’s the simple things in life that can please you, hubby is loads better but we still have a few hurdles to go so bring them on!!!!!
