Warning, this blog contains sweat!
Current status: sweating my eyebrows off – literally. Seeing as they are now 95% make-up rather than hair and that the weather has turned rather warm, it is not, unfortunately, an unusual occurrence to find that they have slipped or been smudged somewhere across my face.
Summer, it seems, has arrived (well, intermittently) and whilst most are probably enjoying downsizing clothes to shorts, t-shirts and the such, I am covering up.
It is a strange and contradictory time having chemotherapy during the summer months. I am experiencing hot flushes on a scale like you wouldn’t believe caused by two factors: firstly, the chemo drugs themselves can induce this reaction, secondly, I have been having a hormonal implant injected to help protect my ovaries through the process and this causes menopause-like symptoms. Between these two things and the hotter weather I have sweated more than I thought was humanly possible. (I never said my blogs would be pleasant, did I?) For the first week after having the FEC chemo drug, I literally soak through clothing 24-hours a day and it is not unusual to find me sitting head-on to a fan with a bright red face. (MOTH and I have started calling these times my Ribena berry moments, for that is what I look like.) But despite all this excess heat I am also doing some things that may then seem a little bizarre.
As mentioned before, I am generally wearing more clothing now than I was months ago and that is because I must be super careful of the sun. Many of the chemotherapy drugs are radio-sensitizers which means that they make the effects of the sun’s rays more powerful than they would be normally. Chemo drugs stay in the body for up to two months after treatment and, if going on to have radiotherapy afterwards (as I may be when chemo has finished and I’ve had my surgery), you will still be super sensitive due to radiation recall. This is where the radiotherapy treatment leaves not only the affected area being treated more sensitive but also the skin on other parts of the body too. So, for me it is head-to-toe covering: hats, collars turned up, long sleeves, full-length trousers, factor 50 greased all over (and my word, does that stuff not rub in. With my pale bald head and the white sun cream I am looking rather albino these days) and staying in the shade. I said to a friend it might be easier if I just put a sheet over my head and cut out two holes for eyes but I feel a ghostly apparition meandering around the garden may cause some disturbance to the neighbours.
I have not yet had the nerve to go out in public with my head completely uncovered and yet hats, scarves and wigs are becoming uncomfortably hot.
Another thing you must be very careful about is infection. Having an obliterated immune system from the chemo you soon get a heightened awareness and wariness of everything you touch. I love to garden. It is my therapy, the saviour of my sanity and I was most put out when the oncologist said I shouldn’t really be doing it. So, I’ve ignored them – I truly believe that something which helps you significantly to stay positive must be good for you. But, I am being careful and so, when I do head out into the garden I am not only taking it gently and doing small bits for short times, but I make sure I am completely covered, including snood over mouth if venturing to anything dusty and I wear rubber gloves under my gardening gloves. Once again – sweat levels are on high and as for what I must look like…!
It is G&T time of the year, or Pimms if you’re that way inclined, but, of course, not for me whilst pumped to the gills with chemo drugs – hrumph! Instead I am trying to drink as many herbal teas as possible along-side copious amounts of water. For the relief of nausea; peppermint, ginger, green, fennel and camomile tea are all recommended but I must say it is not particularly with enthusiasm that I sip a cup of the hot stuff when sweltering and dreaming of gin.
I have also been soaking my hands and feet in warm water. Mad you say? In this weather? Well, yes, it does feel so and yet there is a good reason why. Firstly, my poor feet are suffering – they are sore and peeling like mad and so I am trying to treat them nicely. I was given a wonderful foot moisturiser and both my feet and I are very grateful for it and I slather it on after a soak in coconut oil and rosemary. The reason I am soaking my hands (once again, warm water and coconut oil – very softening) is so I can timidly and gently cut my nails. One of the side-effects that can happen as a result of the TAX drug (which I had three rounds of first) is your nail beds dying. This is extremely painful and has left me at times unable to do anything because even the slightest touch to my fingers is excruciating. I had a very sorry moment for myself where I couldn’t even break off a piece of chocolate as it was too painful to do so – this made me cry – so I ate more chocolate but only once MOTH had broken it up for me. Added to this fun is that the nails start to lift and so perhaps you can understand why it is with extreme caution and care that nail cutting is undertaken and only after softening them.
Every three weeks, when I head into my chemo, I don gloves and hand warmers – imagine that, in this weather. I do this because I have very cold hands and un-co-operative veins; the silly things just will not accept cannulas. Keeping my hands warm allows slightly better access for the needle and I get my arm wrapped in a heat pad whilst there too. The TAX drug is administered by drip and once started went through fine. But the FEC treatment is administered by a series of large syringes. (One of which is bright red, which, if you’ve forgotten about gives you rather a shock when you next go to the bathroom and it comes out the same colour!) The FEC drugs are kept in the fridge and the first time I had them, the coldness of the liquid and the coldness of my hand meant my veins kept trying to constrict and so it became very painful to push the drug in. This meant we had to keep stopping to warm me up before trying again.
So, spare a thought for me when you are in your swimwear, sunbathing and enjoying a nice cold drink for I shall most likely be having a hot tea, in the shade, completely covered and hoping my eyebrows have not mingled too much with the sun-cream and started to head off to another destination.
*MOTH Man Of The House