One Week back at Home........

So today is Friday, 24th February 2012 and I've now been back at home for a week.

It's been a really really tough week :(

On discharge from hospital the damn diarrhoea decided to make a come back - with a vengeance! I've been having to get up out of bed 3 - 5 times a night just to do bag changes, it literally is like having a tap attached to me, it just pours out.
My Palliative care nurse was on leave this week but I spoke to one of her colleagues who faxed a prescription to the GP for me for Buscopan tablets (to stop the continual stomach cramps) and also for Loperimide to stop the diarrhoea (only problem is, it doesn't actually stop it!)

Yesterday I spoke to one of the lovely nurses from Beating Bowel Cancer. They always seem to know when I'm at a really low point and ring me that day....I filled her in and we discussed together how totally shit this whole thing is. She gave me some advice re the diarrhoea tablets and rehydration without going back into hospital....to be honest for the past few days I've felt that I will end up back there sooner rather than later.

Today I feel a little better...had a light diet yesterday as the previous day I'd spent most of the afternoon throwing up in bed and Rab was in and out providing me with a clean bowl, tissues and drinks to keep me going. My husband is an amazing man - I never realised how amazing he was and I never truly appreciated him before all this. I wouldn't be able to do this last bit now without him.
But as I said, today I did feel a little better despite the continuing diarrhoea....I finally realised it's because the Buscopan tablets have stopped the awful painful cramps and this has made me feel that I can cope with the remaining ongoing symptoms for now. I'm determined to get past this bit and find a way to feel 'well' again. I'm determined to prove them wrong with what they now expect for me as a realistic time span. I still have things to do here.

Friday, 24th February was also Rab's birthday. Last night Sarah and Manolis came over along with James and Leanne and we had a lovely Chinese meal. I didn't eat too much but I did have a gorgeous Spring Roll (yummy, my favourite thing to eat ever....I even dreamed about them in hospital) and a small portion of rice with beef & black bean sauce.
Rab had some lovely presents and cards and felt just a little special I think :)  I hadn't managed to organise presents for his birthday from me this year, but Leanne went shopping and chose some things that she knew I'd like, she even wrapped them for me - it's like having my own personal shopper :-)))
Thank you Leanne xxXxx

It's now Saturday and again I don't feel as bad as earlier in the week. The cramps are definitely under control now - the diarrhoea continues unabated, so I continue to eat Loperimide like sweets :) and do bag changes by the hour!
Rab made me a lovely light lunch today of toasted cheese sandwich and tonight he's making numerous tasty side salads (to try to tempt me to eat more) and a mushroom omelette.

It has been a lovely sunny day with blue skies and a totally fresh feel to the day - this makes me feel better in myself in general and although I know I'm not out of the woods yet (by a long shot) I'm still trying to find that exit route - the one that leads me to a longer, painfree life.
I've got it firmly fixed in my head that if I can get to March things WILL get better - obviously not for ever but at least for a while.

Keep that positive stuff heading my way because it's obviously working :)

Back soon xxXxx Much love to all xxXxx

Back home after my NHS trip........

As you all know I was struggling with acute diarrhoea, raised temperature, aches, cramps and pains from 14th January. I kept thinking I could cope at home, I would get back on top of things eventually but then it hit me on the afternoon of 31st January when I looked in the mirror that if I didn't get myself to hospital I'd be found dead on the floor at some point. I then made the decision to get properly sorted out and rang my GP who insisted I go to Accident and Emergency for a full assessment.

I arrived there with Rab around 4pm and from that point on, everyone provided me with exceptional care and compassion.
To be honest initially I thought they'd keep me a day or so, get some fluids into me and send me home as a bit of a time waster with a dodgy upset stomach....however on admission they took bloods from me and it was found that my inflammatory markers were running at over 300. A 'normal' person has inflammatory markers around 0-5, so mine were apparently 'impressive' ....LOL. That's one way of looking at it I suppose.

For the first few days of admission they were completely puzzled with what was going on with my body. The acute diarrhoea, cramps, temperature raises were all pointing to something being very wrong but they couldn't work out 'what' was wrong. I also then started having periods of constipation. It hit me at one point that I had EVERY symptom of bowel cancer - that was almost amusing considering last time around I had virtually no symptoms at all.
I had at least 6 different teams involved in my care from General medical to Oncology and everyone of them tried to go the extra bit to help me. My care was amazing from arrival to discharge. My nurses on the ward were simply brilliant - so caring, compassionate and they made a huge difference to how I coped being in there for so long. Some of them would just come in, sit on the bed and chat. They didn't dress it up as anything except a 'shit situation' - they listened, hugged me and said I was 'amazing, so strong'..it all helped because when you're being bombarded with crap news every day you definitely start to lose the ability to be 'amazing' and 'strong' anymore.

Anyway, numerous x-rays, MRI's, CT scans later I was told that just about everything had changed....firstly T10 in my spine had now completely crumbled and the option of bone cement was off the table. It would now need to be a completely different type of spinal surgery to replace parts of missing spine...

I was also told that new 'masses' had been discovered in the pelvic region (damn, that was fast - nothing was in my pelvic region in December when I had detailed scans)...the new masses are suspected of being a completely NEW primary cancer - possibly Ovarian...another huge blow.

Then it was found that my right kidney had stopped functioning because a 'mass' had decided to grow around the tube between the kidney and the bladder shutting it down completely. They talked about a drain into an external bag and I was so pissed off about this. During the op they managed to get a stent into place to open up the tube without the need for an external drain or external bag - so at last something went right.

Prior to all this new info, the Oncology department had spent time talking me into doing a course or two of Chemo. They assured me that it could be 'tailor made' this time and that they could protect me from the horrendous side effects that I'd suffered last time around. However, without two functioning kidneys no-one was prepared to even think about Chemo - so that was the first thing that needed fixing.
Then of course if the new masses do turn out to be a brand new primary, Chemo is probably off the table completely simply because they can't really whack me with two different chemo's at the same time.
Surgery to remove any new masses also probably wouldn't be an option as it would take me too long to recover.
It felt like I was being continually whacked with bad news for a period of about 8 days in there. Every time a Doctor walked through the door it was to say 'I'm sorry but.........'........

I got to the point where I just couldn't take any more bad news and flipped completely when they tried to send me down for yet another scan. My lovely nurses on the ward and also the Stoma nurse, Anna, tried everything to protect me from any further bad news for the next few days.
Anna arrived by the side of my bed in the middle of my complete mini breakdown and got me through the next hour by simply hugging me and listening.
I told her I KNOW this will kill me now and I'm just not ready to go yet, she agreed that yes, it will kill you Carole - there's no way back from all this crap now and it's not fair but sometimes you've just got to accept that things are bigger than you..........I cried, she wiped her own tears away whilst keeping me on a even keel for a while and left me in a better place than I'd been in when she arrived. Thank you Anna - sincerely...xx.

Since then I've had lots of  mini breakdowns - fairly short lived as I tend to pull myself together afterwards and carry on but they are there in the background. Simple things set me off.
I'm so so angry with this bastard cancer now....I took everything it threw at me, tried to fight back and get back on my feet only to deal with mets a fairly short time later. I never ever had a 'clear' scan - I never ever had a break from it all. THEN it decided to throw a whole new primary cancer at me - as I've said recently....I'm NOT a quitter but I do feel fairly defeated now.

However, I've now been released from hospital and I'm back at home being taken care of by my lovely husband, Rabah. For a while I didn't know if I was going to make it back home again - I really did feel that ill when I was in hospital, but I'm still here. He's determined to get me eating again, he's determined to make me well and get me back on top of this.
I'm determined to try my best - simply because I'm not ready to leave Rab or my boys just yet. I'm not stupid, I know it will end up not being my decision to make, but I can at least try.

You all know by now that I'm not a religious person - but I'll take any prayers you want to send in my direction. I'll take the positive thoughts, candles and vibes and hope that everyone of them helps me in my ongoing struggle to stay here longer.

Thank you all for caring about me and my family - I need you to know how much we appreciate it xxXXxx

Very quick update.....

I have been in hospital since 1st Feb and was finally allowed home yesterday, 17th Feb....Update to follow but will have to be once I have found some energy from somewhere.

For now it's enough to say that the NHS have taken very great care of me over the past two and a half weeks, and right now I'm back at home being taken care of by my lovely Rab.

Thanks for all the messages, I'll get around to responding at some point.

Much luv xxXxx

Sticks, phones and plots......:)

Today I woke up grumpy and sore - poor Rab got the brunt of my foul mood before he left for work (I've since sent a text and spoken to him to apologise for my crap behaviour)....My back was so sore today and my hip area too - but on a positive note, the 'flu' or 'drug reaction' (whichever it turns out to be) now seems to have settled down and I felt like I was back on the right road today. Managed to get out for the first time in 8 days - all good :)

Once I'd got the pain meds sorted the rest of the day was better - am sure Dj was relieved once my mood lifted too. I can be a really moody cow at times - but I'm always sorry afterwards. I'm conscious of the fact that I don't want them to be 'relieved' once I'm gone - because I was such a grumpy cow to be around at times!

Late lunchtime I took Dj for a haircut - we need to get his passport updated and he was adamant that he wasn't having his picture done until his hair was 'sorted'. So, one haircut later he's now happy to be photographed :)
Popped into the supermarket and picked up a few bits for dinner - actually felt like eating today and decided that I needed something tasty to kick-start my appetite again. Decided to make a Thai Red Curry with Wild Rice & naan bread - yummy

Sarah and Manolis came over in the evening and had dinner with us so that was lovely. Dj even came out of bedroom hibernation to eat with us - then the pull of 'Minecraft' was just too strong, so he disappeared back again leaving us adults to chat and have a cuppa.

I told Sarah that I was having trouble finding a nice walking stick - I don't want a traditional 'older' persons stick, if I have to have one (which I do now really) then I wanted a nice one - but couldn't find anything that looked right. Sarah got online and found me one we both liked - snow leopard design - so that's now ordered and hopefully won't take too long.
Then she sorted out my mobile phone deal for me online as well - I've been MEANING to do this for weeks now but just haven't got around to it. She transferred me onto a new deal that means for £10 a month I get unlimited text messages the following month - perfect for me as 98% of my mobile use is by text only.
Thanks Sis, don't know what I'd do without you......well, actually I do....I'd continue to say I need to sort out my mobile deal and I'd continue to pay for all my text messages - I'd still be limping around saying I know I need a stick but can't find one....so, Thanks for organising me and sorting me out :-)

As for the 'plot' bit in the title above...this relates to burial plot.
I've been looking around and more or less decided that I've found the place for my burial - Epping Forest Burial Ground. It's a woody area, adjacent to Epping Forest itself (52 acres have been sectioned off to use as a burial ground) it's all very natural with trees, shrubs, plants etc and you can only use biodegradable materials in the burial.
You can choose to have a bird box, bat box or memorial bench put there in your memory - something I thought would really appeal to Dj as he really likes wildlife, birds, nature. I can think of nothing nicer than him visiting to find the bird box is being nested in :)
We had a chat about this recently and he had a look on the website, he said it looks such a beautiful, peaceful place and his only concern was why we couldn't have all three memorials - the bat box, bird box and the bench...because I'm worth it :)
I feel this would be a nice place for the boys to visit rather than a traditional cemetery environment. I don't want to be buried in a cemetery - even thinking about being buried feels wrong, being in a cemetery feels SO wrong. I like the woods better :-)

http://www.woodlandburialparks.co.uk/Epping-Forest-Burial-Park/Gallery.ice

I'm going to go with the boys and have a look over the next few weeks and see if we all like it there. My Dad's only concern (well, not only concern, because obviously he doesn't WANT me to be buried at all)...was that as you have to use biodegradable materials 'the foxes might dig you up during the night'....LOL...
His other concern was that 'it's a bit far for some people to travel to'....again LOL.
I told him that if it was too far, people didn't have to come. I really don't think anyone expects me to choose a place that is convenient for THEM rather than me and the boys!
LOL Dad, you're soooo funny :)

Lastly, Happy Birthday to my little brother Eddie - have a good one bruv - much luv always xxXXxx

And then....the shit hit the fan!

Well, not literally as I have a bag to keep it all contained remember :) BUT if I'd not had the bag things may have been very different.

Around 7pm on Saturday evening I started to feel really 'odd', queasy and just a bit generally unwell...nothing I could immediately put my finger on, just 'odd'. Rab was working late on Saturday night so I told Dj I was going to lay down for a while as I wasn't feeling too well.
Two hours later, around 9pm, I woke up in bed freezing cold with my teeth chattering as though I'd been abandoned in the Antartic, yet burning up to touch.
Dj appeared in my room to 'check' on me and immediately said 'Oh God mummy, what's wrong!' (I didn't realise I looked *that* bad)....told him I had a temperature and needed paracetamol so he went off to bring me those and water. He insisted on staying with me until Rab got home because he was worried that things were all going wrong now. It was at this point I realised that despite being as strong as he can be for me, he's also deeply worried about what is going on and when things are going to happen/change. He snuggled up next to me in bed and after a while my temperature went down a little so I was able to pretend to go back to sleep - he stayed a while longer then quietly left the room...as he left I heard him whisper 'I'll be back to check on you, don't worry'

The next few days were a complete nightmare - the fever was quickly followed by severe vomiting and diarrhoea, joint pains, nausea, the most awful banging headache, a complete and total exhaustion which meant even walking to the bathroom left me needing more sleep...that was mainly what I did for the following few days - sleep. I can honestly say I've not felt this awful for years - in fact I can't even remember when I last felt this awful. Every part of my body hurt, all the extra pounds I'd been trying to accumulate were gone in days, my energy levels fell to minus zero and almost a week later I'm still struggling to get back on top of things.
Today is Friday - 6 days now of feeling crappy, wiped out and weak but yesterday I managed to eat a few mouthfuls of hot food, not much but more than I'd been managing up to then. Today I'll try to make more effort but my appetite is at rock bottom....For the first 48 hours I couldn't even keep water down, so Rab went and got me Lucozade which actually did help. I managed to drink a few bottles of this and keep it down when water just wasn't doing the job at all.

I spoke with my palliative care nurse earlier this week who said she wasn't convinced that this was a reaction to the drug I'd been given. She feels that any reaction would have taken place within 24-48 hours and that gastric reactions to this drug are 'highly unusual although possible'....sigh......I just know this was a reaction to the drug, I know this wasn't a 'winter flu bug' - how do I know? Because I do.

She's since contacted me again today and said she's spoken to a different consultant who again feels that this is possibly not related to the drug as it's 'too unusual for anyone to react so severely, although of course it is possible'........So everyone agrees it IS possible but because it's unusual I should write it off as a 'flu type bug' - and I shouldn't wonder why no-one at home managed to catch this from me? (despite winter flu type bugs being highly contagious)
She then said of course the only way we'll know for sure is if I react this way next time - then we can be confident that it IS the drug and maybe the dosage will need reviewing.

I need to contact my Oncology team at the other hospital as I did some basic research into the drug last night. The reason they are giving me this is to try to increase the bone density and therefore reduce the risk of fractures - it will NOT give me longer, it will not stop the cancer, it is purely to give me some quality of life...
What I found last night was a couple of reports into use of this drug for Osteoporosis (bone thinning) all of these reports stated that ONE dose of this drug at 5mg was shown to still be effective two YEARS later...wait a minute! ONE dose can give up to TWO years protection against thinning bones? Why am I doing four weekly sessions of this then? Oh God! here we go again - more questions for me to find the answers to.....I asked my palliative care nurse about this today and she said it was just the standard dose that they give for cancer mets...but if it's shown to be in the system still after two years, do I really really need this every month?...decisions, decisions............more information needed.

Apart from all that how's the pain? It's still there...better controlled by the morphine based drugs and I can't honestly say that the bisphosphonate has made any real difference as yet.

The following few days after Bloods and Drugs....

By Wednesday evening I definitely felt quite good - I decided I had reduced pain in my spine and hip so happy bunny. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't 'pain free' but it did seem less of a 'pain' - however Wednesday was also the day when my new drugs plan started so that makes it impossible to tell if it's a good reaction to the bisphosphonate drug or a good reaction to the new meds prescribed by the lovely C.

Thursday I managed to get out shopping with Rab - not far, just a short bus ride away but we were out around 2 hours and I didn't feel at any point that I couldn't cope and needed to get back home again. Since around October we've not managed to get out shopping because within 20 mins I'm saying 'I can't do this, I need to go home because the pain is just too much'.....so we got out and I coped well - Yay!
Finally managed to spend my voucher that James and Leanne gave me around a year ago (for Accessorize) - found a lovely handbag in there that matched my brown boots perfectly - however I then found a totally gorgeous scarf too.
Hmmm, decisions, decisions, which to have? - luckily Rab stepped in and said he'd buy me the scarf, so I got both :)) Brilliant :)

I then popped into another shop and found a nice pair of jeans, a warm jumper and a lovely top - good day for shopping obviously :)

Friday I spoke with my nurse, C, she rang to make sure I was feeling a bit better on the new pain meds and to adjust levels if not...Had a nice chat with her, she also asked about Rab and the boys and we said we'd catch up again early February - unless I need her beforehand. I have the number to get in touch with her if I have any issues at all. Feel better about a lot of things since she's been involved in my care.

Saturday morning I was really looking forward to my visitors, Lisa and her lovely son T, plus Tony. Both were travelling many many miles to see me and I was so pleased to know that the three of us would finally get together.
We are all fellow bloggers - initially we all met on a Cancer Chat forum and built an online friendship, which developed into much more.
We were, as Shents (Lisa) put it, the 'gang of five' who just gelled on first meeting each other online. Out of our five, we've lost 2 - David who passed away in April last year and Rose who passed away in June. The original plan was that all five of us would get together late summer last year - but it wasn't to be.

During the summer holidays I had met up with Lisa and her two gorgeous children (regular followers of my blog will recall that meeting back in August 2011 - we had a great day out with the children)...I'd spoken to Tony many many times by phone but we'd not actually met in person - however I wasn't in the slightest bit concerned because I knew we'd all just 'gel' the way we did online........and we did :)
Lisa and T arrived first and within 5 minutes Dj and T had picked up their conversation from where they'd left it, back in August - to listen to them you'd think they'd seen each other yesterday :)....

Whilst Lisa and I had a cuppa and a chat they went down into the back garden to shoot Justin Beiber with Dj's BB guns....(it was a poster, don't panic! and they wore safety goggles!)....
Lisa and I chatted about things and again it felt as though I'd only seen her yesterday, not 5 months ago. She is totally comfortable to be around, has a naturally sunny nature, is warm, friendly and someone you'd actually WANT to be friends with  - a special lady indeed...and she'd travelled from the North of England to me, way down in the South, their journey took over 5 hours, just to give me a hug and some company.

Tony arrived shortly afterwards - he pulled up outside in his car at exactly the same time as James and Leanne arrived. I heard him call out to James ' James, where can I park' and again it felt as though it was a completely natural conversation with someone who was around regularly, not someone we'd never met before.
Tony came in, hugs all around - kettle on so lots of tea and chatting...then Sarah and Manolis arrived to meet Lisa and Tony too...more tea/coffee then we had lunch and finished off with some gorgeous donuts that Tony had picked up along the route. Again it had taken him 6 hours to get to me........
We finally managed to all get together and not only that, James, Leanne, Sarah and Manolis also managed to get over to meet them and it was a really lovely day.
Everyone got on, everyone was comfortable - complete strangers brought together by one disgusting disease - brought together by something you'd not wish onto your worst enemy but without it, I'd never have met them.

I don't know why I got cancer - but I do know that sometimes you are meant to meet some people in life. I feel I was supposed to meet Lisa and Tony.......They are life time friends - true friends and I'm so happy we finally met up :)
 Thank you both for coming all that way just to check up on me - much luv to you both xx

Bloods, Drugs and 'no Side Effects'.......

Me again :) I'm BACK just as I said I would be - lol......

So to recap on the last 10 days or so..

Monday, 9th - went down the the local hospital to get bloods done prior to the infusion of bisphosphonates the following day. They need to do your bloods first as they must check things like your calcium levels, kidney function and make sure that the white cells are behaving themselves beforehand.
Arrived just before 11am and found the LONGEST queue ever in the bloods department. So, I pulled the cancer card (something I never usually even think about doing).
First I asked the (bored looking) woman on reception roughly how long the wait was for bloods....she replied at least 1.5hrs probably 2hrs. I then quietly asked if there was any way for me to be fast tracked for two reasons, firstly because the cancer is in my spine and I find it really hard to sit in one position for that long - and secondly because I had a Palliative care nurse visiting me at home from Macmillan today and I really didn't want to miss her or waste her time, so could she ask if it would be possible to see me as quickly as possible?
Her reply was firstly to look at her fingernails in deep thought followed by a long sigh and then.....No.....

That was it...just 'No'.....I looked at Rab, he looked at me and we just shook our heads, walked away and sat and waited - in total for 1 hr and 58minutes. By the time I was seen I was irritable and in pain from sitting upright in one position on a hard plastic chair for so long. The bloods lady greets us with 'Hello, are you well?'.....I bit my tongue and said 'Not really, I'm in a lot of pain, the wait was ridiculous and I'd think you 'could' maybe make special arrangements for people who are really genuinely in pain' She just smiled and said nothing.
It just makes you feel so so cared for in this place!

Managed to catch my Palliative care nurse just as we arrived home, she was about to drive off having waited for just over half an hour for me. Apologised and explained and she agreed that it should be possible to help people in genuine need of assistance.

Anyway, her name is C, she's lovely and she'll be my guide on pain management now until the end.
She has wiped the slate clean with my original meds and we're doing a new regime which includes more morphine than before, but slow release so I only have to take it 12 hourly. I will still be using the Dicolfenac for the bone pain, plus paracetamol 6 hourly - paracetamol actually helps the Diclofenac work more efficiently apparently - don't say you learn nothing by reading my blog :-)) On top of that I still have my Oramorph in place (liquid morphine) for breakthrough pain which I can use 2 hourly if necessary.
I think the new med's help more than the co-codamol were doing but at the moment I'm on the lowest possible dose to see if I can manage there. If not, it will be increased gradually until we find the right dosage that removes most of the persistent pain. Morphine of course is highly addictive - this hardly matters in the scheme of things going on with me though.

We had a long chat about everything, end of life care plan, funeral arrangements, the boys (I cried...I ALWAYS bloody cry when someone wants to talk about the boys)  Rab (cried some more) and just general stuff like who's who in my family and how everyone around me is coping, do we need any practical help etc. I bonded with her and she's really kind so I know she'll be doing her best for me.
She's also going to organise some complimentary therapies for me at Trinity Hospice shortly....remember my link if you've not donated and have a spare couple of quid knocking around :)

So, that was Monday.

Tuesday, 10th  in the afternoon I was due to have my first infusion of bisphosphonates. I mistakenly thought I'd be getting some time with a Doctor beforehand to: discuss any concerns I had; make sure my bloods had been checked; ask any questions that I'd thought of; warn me of any side effects to watch for, that sort of thing......but no, it was a case of sit in the chair, nice nurse comes over and jabs a cannula into your arm, checks your date of birth, take two vials of blood first,  then starts the infusion.
I'm sure she said something about my bloods being used for checking next time...and I didn't say anything but thought, not likely. I know my bloods need to be done AFTER the infusion, not beforehand. I know they need to be checked 24-48hrs before each infusion - there is no way they're going to use 'old' blood - surely?....Anyway, not a problem because I'll be dealing with that nearer the time.

During this first infusion I asked her 'What are the side effects of this drug?'....she replied 'None'.
Hmmm, that's definitely NOT what the manufacturers website says  - so, me being me, asked some more questions. 'Are you sure, all drugs have side effects don't they?'.....She then said 'Usually you don't have side effects with this drug' - I then told her I'm NOT usual, I was removed from Chemo after just two days due to toxicity problems....she smiled and said 'You'll be fine, nothing to worry about' and wandered off. That's good then.......I'll be fine and I don't need to be informed of anything to watch out for!


Sarah was with me and we sat there for a while just chatting and finding things to laugh about, quietly because no-one in there makes any noise at all - it's quieter than a library building! Drip, drip, drip infusion all done after about half an hour - followed by a quick flush through (sterile water) and then we were free to leave after making the appointment for the next one in four weeks time...but no appointment for a prior blood test?
Hmmm, I'll be doing something about this nearer the time but it never ceases to amaze me how much I've had to educate myself on my treatments, how much I have to check and double check, how many times I have to chase things up that need doing. It's all getting a bit (lot) irritating now.


Tuesday evening I still had a strange taste in my mouth, but nothing untoward was happening.

I did increase my pain meds Tuesday night as the pain did feel slightly more intense than earlier - but I'd been out doing things, walking around, sitting around, being jabbed.... so that was probably the cause rather than any 'immediate' side effects :)


Going to break the rest of what's been happening down into other posts - or this one will end up just too long


Here's a couple of pictures that Sarah took whilst we were in the unit.....