Pipmeister
Senior Retro Guru
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A bit of an update for you all.
I have now completed my 2nd Chemotherapy Cycle, but it wasn’t without some issues. My White Blood Cell Neutrophils were running low before the start of the treatment. Sadly after the 1st Cycle, they fell below the threshold permitted to give my 2nd cycle, so it was postponed for a week. Upon receiving the test results 2 days before the rescheduled 2nd cycle, it was still too low to go ahead. I was instructed to get to the Hospital early in the morning of the rescheduled date for my blood to be tested again and fast tracked through. Rather surprisingly, it had risen enough over the 48hrs to go ahead with the treatment. This meant however that I got off to a late start.
I had agreed to add the extra Targeting Chemo Drug Cetuximab, but it needed to be infused slowly, and then halt proceedings for a while to see how I reacted to it on the Ward. As I didn’t seem to have any immediate reaction, they continued with the rest of the Protocol. With this procedure, it did mean that it all took 7hrs in total. As I didn’t get started until nearly 11am, I didn’t leave the Hospital until 6pm :roll: . The support Steroids that they infuse during the process did help with fatigue, so I was relatively perky by the time I got home.
I have been prescribed a course of G-CSF White Blood Cell boosting injections that I have to self-administer, so hopefully cycle number 3 could go ahead in a fortnight as planned. I will have a C.T. Scan at 3 months to see how the Cancer is being affected by the treatment. If it is not responding to the Chemotherapy, they will recommend stopping at that point. If the Cancer is being reduced sufficiently, and I am coping with the side-effects, they will recommend seeing it through to all 12 cycles lasting 6 months – notwithstanding the occasional postponed cycle.
What I still don’t know though, is how long before I start to notice any symptoms, and how will I feel when I do. How long can I continue to ride for, and what should I do instead of riding when I can’t cycle in the manner that I am accustomed to. Pottering around on the canal tow path or being dragged along by an e-bike is not what I call cycling.
Anyway, on a more positive note, the somewhat inspired idea of buying a motorbike has now happened. I did my usual in depth research taking into account my slight build and limited strength, and had narrowed it down to a couple of models. I’m sticking with Kawasaki, but coming a little more up to date with a mid-sized nippy little number. It is not a Cruiser, or an Adventure bike, but more resembles an X.C. MTB riding position that I like. It was at a dealer in Farnham and I took it for a test ride on Tuesday. I felt comfortable and confident on it enough to blast up the A31
. Back at the shop, I paid for it, and bought a sensible jacket and trousers - I turned up in a leather jacket and jeans for the test ride. I very nearly rode it the 35 miles home on the day, but it has been a year since my refresher course, and they offered free delivery. It is due here on Thursday, so I’ll pop some pictures up after that .
Pip
A bit of an update for you all.
I have now completed my 2nd Chemotherapy Cycle, but it wasn’t without some issues. My White Blood Cell Neutrophils were running low before the start of the treatment. Sadly after the 1st Cycle, they fell below the threshold permitted to give my 2nd cycle, so it was postponed for a week. Upon receiving the test results 2 days before the rescheduled 2nd cycle, it was still too low to go ahead. I was instructed to get to the Hospital early in the morning of the rescheduled date for my blood to be tested again and fast tracked through. Rather surprisingly, it had risen enough over the 48hrs to go ahead with the treatment. This meant however that I got off to a late start.
I had agreed to add the extra Targeting Chemo Drug Cetuximab, but it needed to be infused slowly, and then halt proceedings for a while to see how I reacted to it on the Ward. As I didn’t seem to have any immediate reaction, they continued with the rest of the Protocol. With this procedure, it did mean that it all took 7hrs in total. As I didn’t get started until nearly 11am, I didn’t leave the Hospital until 6pm :roll: . The support Steroids that they infuse during the process did help with fatigue, so I was relatively perky by the time I got home.
I have been prescribed a course of G-CSF White Blood Cell boosting injections that I have to self-administer, so hopefully cycle number 3 could go ahead in a fortnight as planned. I will have a C.T. Scan at 3 months to see how the Cancer is being affected by the treatment. If it is not responding to the Chemotherapy, they will recommend stopping at that point. If the Cancer is being reduced sufficiently, and I am coping with the side-effects, they will recommend seeing it through to all 12 cycles lasting 6 months – notwithstanding the occasional postponed cycle.
What I still don’t know though, is how long before I start to notice any symptoms, and how will I feel when I do. How long can I continue to ride for, and what should I do instead of riding when I can’t cycle in the manner that I am accustomed to. Pottering around on the canal tow path or being dragged along by an e-bike is not what I call cycling.
Anyway, on a more positive note, the somewhat inspired idea of buying a motorbike has now happened. I did my usual in depth research taking into account my slight build and limited strength, and had narrowed it down to a couple of models. I’m sticking with Kawasaki, but coming a little more up to date with a mid-sized nippy little number. It is not a Cruiser, or an Adventure bike, but more resembles an X.C. MTB riding position that I like. It was at a dealer in Farnham and I took it for a test ride on Tuesday. I felt comfortable and confident on it enough to blast up the A31
. Back at the shop, I paid for it, and bought a sensible jacket and trousers - I turned up in a leather jacket and jeans for the test ride. I very nearly rode it the 35 miles home on the day, but it has been a year since my refresher course, and they offered free delivery. It is due here on Thursday, so I’ll pop some pictures up after that . Pip
