I seemed to get a good nights sleep last night. I never wake up after sleeping feeling refreshed though, just in a permanent state of groggyness. I have the oramorph to thank for that.
Only a slight anxiousness in my stomach for the appointment later today. Not really hungry but force down a nakd bar and a couple of cups of tea.
Getting lots of messages from well wishers which makes me feel good. I’m ready to do this.
We leave at 1.30 for St Luke’s Cancer Centre. We don’t really talk much in the car. Katie drops me off with a massive hug and heads home. Covid means she can’t stay with me.
I walk very slowly to the chilworth ward, go to reception to check in and am told I’m missing an appointment card. They’ll sort it. Room 2
Room 2 isn’t far down the corridor I go in and meet a nurse who shows me to a high back chair in bay 6.
The room is full with every bay occupied, some chatting but most lost in their own thoughts. It’s 30 minutes before I’m hooked up to a drip.
I found out earlier today the cheapest of the two drugs in the ipi/nivo combo is £3000 and the more expensive one is £30,000! They don’t even prepare it until they know you are on your way.
First drip is hung at 2.35pm and lasts 30 minutes.
The time goes really slowly, I put on a podcast but don’t really listen. I can feel my arm first go cold and then start to feel a warmth in my stomach. It’s not unpleasant but doesn’t feel right.
After the first drip finishes I have two 6 minute saline drip flushes before the second drip is added, also for 30 minutes.
Finally when that finishes a final 10 minute drip flush is started. I message Katie to come and get me.
I’m disconnected, bandaged, get another appointment for 3 weeks (Oct 15) and then slowly make my way outside. I’m only there for a few minutes before Katie arrives.
That’s it, first session over. I was warned of possible diarrhoea so have yet more tablets to deal with that.
Again I’m not really talkative on the way home. There’s a bit of traffic as a distraction. I feel a bit empty, almost like an anticlimax but know side effects will come later.
I grab a few hrs sleep before dinner and don’t have much of an appetite. I can feel myself getting warmer and then colder. A bit ‘fluey’. This progresses through the evening so when I’m going to bed at 10.45 it feels like I have a fever coming.
In bed I’m hot one minute and cold the next, tossing and turning and feeling a little spaced out. Almost like I’m hallucinating, this lasts most of the night then just stops.
I’m greeted with the familiar chest pain again, it seemed to have dulled for a few days but has come back to the fore again. Oh joys.
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