CHEMO FINISHED :-D

We were the last to be seen, having waited 2 hours beyond her appointed time - but it was worth waiting.

After hearing about Sue's recent infection, the Onc suggested she stop Chemo now. She said 7 Cycles is good & missing the 8th won't compromise the benefits she's already received from the treatment - so stop now & let her body recover.

The Onc is sure the infections which keep clobbering Sue are coming from the stent, internally, rather than being picked up from outside. The Onc Team will talk to the Gastro Team to compare the North Mid's latest scan with Guy's previous scans & see if the stent needs changing. (Metal stents can't actually be changed, but they can be looked at, & cleaned/expanded as necessary.)

Now she's off Chemo, she's at less risk of these sudden, violent infections, although not totally risk-free. Once the stent's checked & sorted, the risk will reduce even further.

We'll know more in 2 weeks, when blood & scan results have been assessed by the Oncs, but tonight we can celebrate the start of a new period of stability.

Pre-Cycle 8 Onc Visit

I left Sue at the coffee bar when we got to Guy's, so she could get checked in, whilst I got the drinks (tea for me & freshly-squose orange juice for her - lol). By the time I got into Onc Outpatients, she'd already had her bloods taken & was off to be weighed!! Blimey, considering how long it took 2 phlebotomists to take blood from 10 patients last month, I was pretty gobsmacked.

However ... the speed of the pre-Onc tests has been no indicator of the clinic's turnover rate ... we're now an hour past her allotted appointment time & no sign of being called in yet ...

Home & Feeling Better

Susan came out on Wednesday afternoon, after a week in side room in the North Mid. For the last night, she'd been relegated back to the Tower, where she'd been for the whole of her 1st Norovirus episode. Fortunately, it wasn't such an awful experience for her this time.

When mum & I collected her, I really believed she wasn't well enough to come home, but after 24 hours' total disorientation, my lovely sister started to resurface from the shell of the seriously ill person she'd been.

She's watching a morning of back-to-back Time Team episodes in the other room now & life's getting back to our "new normal" ... Welcome Home, Sue ;)

40.3 is NOT a good number!!

14 hours' sleep ...

... works wonders :-D

LATER ...

They've decided to keep her in for at least one more night, as her blood pressure is so low. She's in a side room "for her own protection"; she'll hate that.

They're being incredibly thorough. Before I left this morning, they took her off the saline drip & put her on a mix of saline & potassium, as her potassium level was quite low. Then, this morning, they gave her a CT Scan & got in touch with Guy's Onc Dept. If Guy's want her transferred to them, North Mid will arrange it.

They're doubting it's a bacterial infection on this occasion but are suspecting either a reaction to last week's Chemo, or our old friend the Norovirus.

I'm SOOOO DIZZY!! I got home at 06:30 this morning & managed to sleep until 10:00 but I feel totally jet-lagged. Still, I always feel hospitals are foreign countries - with A&E Depts being on another planet entirely - so it's not really surprising.

Day 21: Cycle 7

Another spiking fever - her temperature shot up to 40.3 from a standing start in less time than it's taken me to type this. I woke to the sound of retching at 01:00 this morning & found her lying in vomit. It took me no time at all to call out the cavalry & get her to A&E.

It's 02:45 now; Susan's on an antibiotic drip at the North Middlesex Hospital with her temperature starting to come down; I'm surprisingly awake for having had only 1.5 hours sleep ... & 2 more paramedics are patrolling north London wearing CC wristbands.