Due to having such a hectic month i haven't had chance to post so sorry if this one is a long one!
After my second round of chemo the doctors decided to check my progress to see if the treatment plan i am on is effective. So, on the 16th of June i had a hearing test and a kidney function test because the chemo that I'm currently having is know to damage hearing and kidney function. The test results came back relatively positive - my kidneys function normally and i've lost some of my hearing with the higher pitches but my consultant reassured me that, that doesn't really matter as in everyday life you don't really use the higher pitches. Losing your hearing only becomes a problem when it goes into the lower pitches.
Two days later on the 18th of June, my dad took me for a PET CT scan and a Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) checkup at the Freeman's hospital in Newcastle. The PET CT scan involves a small amount of radioactive dye going into your body, which then shows up on the scan on all the 'active sites' i.e heart, bladder and tumours. The scan itself takes around 25 minutes of laying very still with your arms above your head.
On arriving at the ENT appointment the receptionist told me an emergency appointment had been booked for the specialist to have a look at my nose. As I've been suffering with nosebleeds since i was very little and this problem needed to be sorted out before i started high dose chemo at the end of July. Obviously, being told you have an emergency appointment booked unsettled me as i was told the specialist was just going to look up my nose to see if anything could be done. After going in and the specialist having a look up my nose he turned round to me and said "Well, lets get it done then!". And by getting it done he meant getting my nose cauterised!! The process itself was fairly simple and painless but afterwards dealing with a stinging nose was a bit of a pain.
The next day was my little sister, Jessica's 12th Birthday.
We took her out for tea and bought her a special birthday cake - we all really enjoyed the night!
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After having a relaxing weekend with family it was time to start chemo again. This time wasn't as smooth as last time. Although my blood sugar levels never got as high as the have with the previous two chemo's, my body had became too accustomed to the dose of anti-sickness i was on and i was sick a few times during this course of chemo.
I was back the following Tuesday for bloods - which where low but not bad enough for any transfusions.
That night at 4am i woke up with a nosebleed - it was the most uncontrolled nose bleed i've ever had. And then blood started coming out of my eyes! At this point my parents decided to take me to A&E to get checked over and to see if there was anything the hospital could do to stop my nosebleed. The doctor needed to take my bloods and unfortunately she took three attempts to get my cannula in! Which left me with two big bruises on my hands!
After checking my bloods, it turned out that my platelets (the thing that helps your blood clot together) had dropped to 22 - when the usual level is in the 300's and i needed a platelet transfusion. But first they needed to stop the bleeding with another cauterisation! The ENT doctor came down to A&E and pulled two large blood clots out my nose and then cauterised a large area of my nose (which is still painful today). I then received my platelet transfusion.
After i had my transfusion i got in the ambulance and had a trip up to the RVI in Newcastle so the doctors up there could check me over and make sure they were happy with everything. They made me go back the next day to check my blood levels where all still okay. My platelets had dropped to 9 and i needed another transfusion.
The next week was dedicated to making sure i was in tip top condition for high dose chemo which starts on July 22nd.
So, on the following Tuesday i was back in Newcastle for bloods, an ENT appointment and a hearing test. My blood results were significantly lower than what they should be and the nurses told me i needed three bags of blood.
My hearing test went smoothly and the ENT doctor told me i needed my nose cauterising again but this time on the opposite side to my previous two! Thankfully, i didn't get any pain from my third cauterisation!!!
The next day me and my mum were back in Newcastle for a Kidney function, Heart echo and Lung function test. I'm still awaiting the results on my Kidney and Heart Tests but my Lung function tests came back all positive!!
And then the day i had been dreading all week had came - the day i had to get my baby tooth out. After the dentists had a look at it the first time they concluded that it was at significant risk of developing an abscess if it was left and that was too risky when i was having high dose chemo in the coming weeks. The dentist numbed my mouth the started the gruelling process of injecting around my baby tooth with local anaesthetic - it took 15 injections for my tooth to be finally numb before they started pulling it out which i could still feel.
And thats everything that was happened to me in the last month! Currently I'm waiting for surgery to put my double hickman line in on Friday then to start high dose chemo on the following Tuesday! Until then i'm going to chill out at home and take things easy for a while because i know when i go in hospital i won't be out for a few weeks after!
Lauren :-)
