Getting wiggy with it

Turns out time flies when you’re having chemo – can’t believe it’s 3 weeks since last I wrote. Mainly my life’s turned into quite the social whirl and I’m a blur of dinners, lunches and accidental afternoons spent in the pub (might not mention that one to the docs…), with a few days at work thrown in for good measure. All very much fun and I’m darned if I’m going to sit at home being “ill”. I firmly believe that if I were to sit at home all day every day I’d quickly invent all sorts of symptoms (or at least dwell on every little twinge), and as long as I can avoid that, I jolly well will.

After the last chemo there was the sickness the night of, and the usual few days of feeling a bit weird, and then back to as normal as is possible. The main difference this month is that the wig is finally out of the box (and, thankfully, looks pretty normal. Other than it being a good foot longer than my normal hair, but y’know…). I was clinging on to an ever-decreasing ponytail until the end of last week when I realized I was sporting a trio of truly horrendous hairstyles – from the front a rather fetching Hitler-esque side parting, from the side I’m reminiscent of a 14 year old skater boy with an undercut and from above I look like the younger sister of 80s legend and famed otter wrangler Terry Nutkins. I had a week of headscarves, but the wig (which, let’s be honest, I was terrified of wearing) is actually much more comfortable – I just needed someone to tell me in no uncertain terms to put the bloody thing on. And for it’s first outing I took it to the opera (well, it WAS from Harrods…).

Seeing as 3 weeks have now passed, it means I’m back into hospital mode. This morning I had another electrocardiogram (my heart IS still beating, so that’s good, and it’s beating exactly as well as it did before the chemo started – even better), then tomorrow the Herceptin starts (another IV drug that I will have every 3 weeks for the next year). The main side effect of the Herceptin is that it could weaken my heart muscle (nice), but it shouldn’t make me sick or bring on the early menopause or make my nails fall out or make me fat or stop my hair from growing back or any of that chemo-associated business, so we’re back to those clouds and all of their silver linings.

Then, on Wednesday, chemo number 4 (4! Two thirds of the way through!). I now get to move on to the “T” section of my FEC-T treatment, so it’s a different drug. Which means less chance of sickness (hurray!), but common side effects are diarrhoea (mmmmm...) and “potentially quite dehabilitating” joint and muscle pain. I’ve heard that it could feel like I’ve spent three hours in the gym. I have NEVER spent 3 hours in the gym (I’ve rarely spent an hour in the gym), so heaven only knows what I have in store…