Down the Rabbit Hole - Dodgy Daph's Medical Adventures Pt 5

I was discharged from hospital on Friday, a faster exit the nurses haven't seen! so much so I left my computer cable behind! (luckily the nurses kept it for me!)  I thankfully went home and slept as much as I could, with this funny taste in my mouth (er hello I did brush my teeth ok) and a constant grip on my thermometer,  as I had to make sure my temperature did not go up.  After the first day back I actually went for a walk with my brother and had a little smoothie as  a treat afterwords, no smoothie  no walk.!   The smoothie helps keep my mouth cooler as it was beginning to heat up.  Having home cooked meals a blessing and being able to have family around. 

No Smoothies NO WALK!

For the first 3 days after my first treatment, I was ok, I could still go for walks , and though I was really tired and took a lot of naps (NOT NANA NAPS K!!!), I was doing pretty good, the doctors were happy the toxins were flushed out of my system and I was going through the normal after effects. 

BFF just arrived , had an appetite and was going for it!

After the 3rd day, oh my goodness!  I thought my mouth was on fire!  I could only eat ice chips or really cold watermelon, no ulcers in the mouth though. The headaches, I used peppermint oil to begin with as I was already on so much medication I was trying to give my body a break but the headaches was just a killer  My mouth felt on fire,   I tried to sleep it off as much as I could, but I was up most of the night gulping water.(how do the damn fishes do it?!!)   The next two days were awful , the headaches were so bad I started popping panadol like candy and I don’t usually self medicate but, my jaws ached and then my gums started to swell and ache.  No one prepared me for this…I lost my appetite, preferred to crunch on watermelon as it was sweet and kept my mouth cool, I said no more meat, it was too hard to digest , I’d stick to my fish and occasional chicken diet that I had stipulated. 

My brother was worried I had dropped 4 kilos very fast and that was not good , Though my best friend cooked some phenomenal food at my place and went scouring everywhere to get the freshest ingredients, I could hardly taste anyting let alone had much appetite. Believe me when I tell you fruit juice or smoothies becomes your best friends.!

They cajoled me, they stern talked me, and made me go out, even for a little while,   wallowing in my very grumpiness, I said "if I want to leave when we get there we go ok, I'm not good with a lot of people at the mo" My brother nodded his head , my bff Peggy said "surrreeee" . (they are so sneaky)

Ol Grumpy pots and Peggs

It turned out to be a beautiful day, a seaside cafe, lovely sea food , cold beers and I had the best glass of  san pellegrino  sparkling water with fat wedges of emerald green lime.  Ahhh it felt sooo good!  Fresh crisp bread, salt and pepper calamari, which were tender to the bite and oh loads of other goodies I couldn't eat but watched.( yeah and drooled.. I"m not ashamed to admit!)  Eventually the heat got to me ( I know, and a Malaysian to boot, where is the shame eh?!!) and told them to take their time and finish I'll go wait in the car. 

For the next few days everyone watched me like a hawk, trying to ensure I ate as much as I could, I had another lumbar puncture(I hate those long needles) and then another chemo out patient treatment that was a very toxic,  The Vincristine chemo dose they used is strong and aggressive, you feel the cold in your hands and though it's only half an hour treatment, they had to stop several times so I could get some feeling back in my hand.  It does affect the nerves. 

Poster Child of getting toooooo comfy in the Hospital

I guess it was another day for "captain bed".  I must say one thing though, you have to make your bed your oasis.  You're going to spend a lot of time in it so, get fav sheets, blankets you like to snuggle with, pillows you just want to sink you head into and your own personal home theatre.. believe me it helps!

I  also got my cold press juicer so was juicing the reds in the morning and the greens in afternoon. Believe me, raw food works if you can't eat it , drink it.

I vant my bloooddd . muuaahahahhaha

My brother headed off, leaving me in better frame of mind and pep talking me all the way.  It was so hard letting go of my brother, you don’t realise how much you want your family around you, I had another week to recuperate before I start B Cycle of my protocol.  

My scalped ached , and I was massaging it  a bit on Tuesday,  I had brushed it several times before tying it up but nothing major.   Wednesday though was a bit of a carnage.  I felt the texture of my hair strange so I undid my bun and brushed it out and clumps of hair came off on the brush!!!! (ok I was prepared for this, so I was kinda calm ) .. so I pondered, do I wash my hair as I’ll probably have it cut tomorrow with Annie or Lani. ( can you imagine, I'm still faffing about washing my hair???)  Because I had to go in for my CT scan that afternoon I was  not sure if I could have it cut afterwords.   So in for a penny  I went in and washed my hair, was blinking rapidly when I saw how much hair was filling up the shower drain… eeekkk, finished rinsing my hair  and put it in a towel then dried it and OMG  I had a freaking rasta dreadlock mess … every time I tried to pull more hair out of the knot more hair would fall out!  
I quickly texted Nora my sister in law and called for help as I didn’t think I could handle the total fall out, literally.!  She called back and said her hair dressers would be able to clip my hair now if I was ready, I said yes absolutely.  We went in and they started clipping my hair, Nora grabbed my hand as I was in tears, its more symbolic the hair, like the final frontier to admitting you are well and truly into the whole chemo cancer thingy. 
Anyway, the girl clipped a beautiful lotus flower onto the side and back of my head and they told me afterwords that it was compliments on the house.  Nora and I walked outside and I felt strange with small breeze blowing though my hair.  

  We went to the hospital, and had the CT scan done, the orderlies were saying I rocked the shavings on my hair, well, what was I to do, I felt strange, like my neck was too scrawny for my head.  Sent a pic to my brothers, who of course said I looked like mum.. duh At least I had a few more good days before I went in for the next cycle which I was told was harder that what I'd just been through.

Thank you for reading my blog and for being so supportive of me and of course of my buddy Annie who's set the date to cut her hair on the 15th of Dec.  Our link is https://www.gofundme.com/down-the-rabbit-hole-with-daphne .  It would be great if you could support us, Annie will also go on radio and will be on "My Weekly Preview" mag to promote her hair auction and cut (we're still arguing as to how short she'll go!)

The New Me

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