Category Feb 2013

Hat index February 25th 2013

Hat = brown beenie

beenie brown

Weekly update February 24th 2013

week ending Feb 24th 2013

week ending Feb 24th 2013

A busy week work-wise, and I mean work-wise not in terms of the blog where I was hoping to put more time into exploring how the data translates into watercolour structures and material. My working week has managed to continue reasonably uninterrupted to date despite a heavy demand on my time From the hospital. I’ve got used to being largely hairless but feel physically able. Mostly.

My treatment involves bursts of a full week of chemo followed by weekly squirts. I’ve just had a full week of a heavy dose of daily steroids (dex) which I’ve just come off. The emotional and physical side effects from this are quite tough to take and will reflect in the data I’m sure.

Data Summary

Hats: (Beenie grey x 2, Sindhi x1, Blue beat Mod x 2, Patterned beenie x 1)

Stoicism: a low of 3 wobbly lip and a high of 9 illness what illness. Mostly 5 stiff upper lip. I think the lower stats here are dex induced but I do find I can cope better when I’m doing creative activities as represented by illness what illness.

Mood: a low of 4 (subdued) and a high of 7 (cheerful and in good spirits), mostly 6 (calm). Interestingly the high and low scores don’t map to the stoicism scores. Some further analysis on this to come.

Control: a low of 4 (little control) and a high of 5 mostly 5 (some control ), looks fairly steady, I was juggling multiple work demands so reflected in this data.

Discomfort: a low of 2 (mild) and a high of 5 (moderate). Mostly 2(mild), I think the low discomfort scores are looking good here. My back has really settled down and not feeling much of anything anymore.

Medical

Bloods (Haemoglobin, White cell count, Platelets, Neutrophiils) all stayed stable and in the normal range. My specialists calls this boring, I’m delighted.

Hat index February 24th 2013

Hat = brown beenie

beenie brown

New hat for the Index

This is a Sindhi topi  (worn by men in Sindh province – which was split at Partition between india and Pakistan).  The gap at the front is so you can  put your head on the ground when you do prayers. Thanks so much to my friend Rosie who just bought it back from India for me.

Sindhi topi

Hat index February 23rd 2013

Hat = brown beenie

beenie brown

Weekly drugs cost February 2013

 chemo 2nd cycle

Velcade 3.5mg vial                                                          £762.38

Dexamethasone 160mg                                                 £10.83

Adriamycin 68mg                                                          £187

Zometa 4mg                                                                   £17.17

Cost of supporting drugs

Lansoprazole 14 mg tablets: cost £0.46

Co-trimoxazole 6720 mg tablets: cost  £1.76

Aciclovir 4200 mg, tablets: cost £03.12

Allopurinol 2100 mg, tablets: cost  £0.26

Domperidone 560 mg, tablets: cost £03.47

Total drugs cost for this week: £983.45

Thank god for the NHS.

 

Weekly blood counts data February 22nd 2013

For detailed description of parameters see the Data Methods part of this website

Haemoglobin: 13.2

White blood cells: 11.39

Platelets: 291

Neutrophils: 10.42

All in normal range.

Neuts and up which is good.

Hat index February 22nd 2013

Hat: beenie pattern

beenie pattern

Hat index February 21st 2013

Hat: Blue beat Mod

blue beat-mod

PAD Cycle 2 February 20th 2013 UCLH Cancer clinic

My fist cycle of PAD finished last week and PAD cycle 2 started yesterday. A cycle is around a month so I’m into week 5 of the 8 weeks of treatment.

PAD_2

In cycle 1 I’ve had mild only mild side effects and apart from a bit of tiredness in the afternoonsDexamethasone only mild passages of nausea and no actual sickness. I’ve had some mild neuropathy but noting dehabilitating. My hair has dropped like a Christmas tree’s needles on boxing day but I was expecting that.

Aside from afternoons, I’m or less working as normal.

For the uninitiated PAD is a treatment protocol consisting of 3 chemo and steroid drugs: adriamycin, velcade and dexamethasone. Dex is a steroid which I take in huge doses over the first few days of treatment. It turns you into a bit of a nutter by turns gregarious and hypersensitive (dex rage).

You don’t get much sleep.

Expect lots of late night posting.