Round 14 Day 1

Round 14. That  I was dreading so much until the day before when my oncologist took out a couple of drugs.

I'm well acquainted with this fabulous tree - I've walk past it on the way to town often. This time of year it looks amazing.

Dave and I walked to town as usual. I had the gym first. I didn't have time to do all my exercises but my wonderful colleague and physio picked out the best ones to do then and there, and what I could do later, so we really made the most of our time. 

We'd popped into the clinic to pay first, where I bumped into more colleagues and got some love and support and very importantly swiped a couple of slices of yummy chocolate cake as Friday is cake day at work. 

(Usually cake is off the menu in my 'cancer eating regime' however, my appetite has been so bad the last 2 weeks, I've given myself a new temporary regime: If I think I could eat it, I eat it - once I'm back over 60kg I think I'll tone it down again).

Cake: Back on the menu. For now.

Next was yoga. Wonderful and relaxing and energizing as usual. 

PSA from the yoga studio.

I applied my emla cream when getting changed from yoga, met Dave again and we headed to the hospital. The stairs are getting harder. I went up some of them backwards to mix it up. That was really hard!

I wore this orange dress. I've worn it before to chemo before. I'm actually running out of new outfits. But this is OK. Because I love to break that 'but I've worn it before' rule that seems to exist for outfits. Actually, it's really great to have just one 'party dress'. No spending ages choosing what to wear, or traipsing around shops looking for something new then spending money on something you may only wear once. No returning to a dress you've not worn for years to discover it no longer fits. Just one or two great staples, collecting great memories. On the other side of the coin, I don't really want to end up with a 'chemo dress'. That is not a label any of my lovely clothes deserves.

And the chemo. Cetuximab, but no Irinotecan or Fluorouracil. Can't remember if I had Leucovorin or not. Must check that....

I did my Home Exercise Program while receiving chemo again this week. I was anxious to get it done before I started to feel too fatigued. I draw the curtains as seen in the picture above, as I'd feel silly doing them in front of all the nurses and patients in the ward.

I love my bottle. Its great. It provides me with life-saving treatment. And allows me to receive these drugs in the comfort of my own home instead of having to stay in hospital all weekend. Must save the hospital a fortune too! And I was so delighted to not have it at all this round! I really don't miss it!

The fatigue was pretty mild at first. Dave and I walked home again. After round 13 I was afraid I wouldn't be able to walk home again. But it was fine. We stopped at a nice patisserie on the way home and treated ourselves to a coffee and a late lunch. I say coffee, but that is one of the things I've been off lately. I had an apple juice. It tasted a little sour. Dave tells me it was actually very sweet. But I drank it all. And I ate well. All in all, this round has been very mild, comparable to my avastin/capcitabine treatment. Which has been awesome.