Getting there...

Tomorrow is Chemo session number 5. I know it sounds like a proper cliché but time really has flown and there are now only two sessions, and less than a month, until all the chemo is done and dusted and out of the way.

So much for my reaction last time being “meh”. The day after I last wrote the side effects hit, and they hit hard. It was blooming horrid. My tongue swelled up and got all cracked, so every time I moved my jaw I bit my tongue (covered in ulcers) or cheek (ripped to shreds). Not that I could chew terribly well as I couldn’t open my mouth particularly wide, so the food I COULD eat (chopped up tinned peaches, sliced white bread and butter and yoghurt) I had to kind of post into my mouth, chew once (reeeeeally carefully) and swallow it more or less whole. And, most annoyingly, tea was too hot for me to drink. Nightmare. The backache turned into a wave of pain that passed from my shoulders down to my knees every time I stood up, and my terrible wind became the runs. Lovely. I was back to hobbling round like a little old man and it was horrid.

True to form, Ma Booth swooped in to keep me in one piece – I don’t think any mum wants to get a phone call from her adult daughter in tears when she’s in the middle of Sainsbury’s to be honest. Three hours to the minute later and she was on my doorstep, ushering me into the bath (“You’ll feel better when you’ve had a bath”), changing my sheets and generally saving the day. Before you could blink Marple was on the telly, the cat was fed and order was restored.

Three days later and things started to calm down (thankfully – a real low point was sitting in a hot bath trying to soothe my bones and working out that if I felt like this til the end of chemo it would “only” be 56 days at the most. I can cope with that – it’s “only” 8 weeks. Ridiculous. That would be rubbish). So, luckily, it was only really bad for 3 days. Then back to normal and a celebratory trip to the zoo (where we saw Abbey Clancy and Peter Crouch. If only they’d been standing next to the giraffes….).

Most annoyingly, despite not being able to eat anything of any substance for 4 whole days, I’ve still managed to put on A WHOLE STONE. In SIX WEEKS. The second I get off these steroids, the spare room’s being turned into a gym…