Joint pain

Here comes a chapter about day 8 after chemo. I’ve been very good at grading pain and nausea over the past week. I’ve done a chart with medicines contra pain/nausea relief.

On Monday I finished my antibiotics I was on after the chemo. I then also stopped taking the pain killers I had been on since last week. The nausea slowly got less and yesterday finished for real! Food still taste weird/unusual and energy levels have been a bit low but I could feel everything going in the right direction!

Then I woke up this morning. A small child climbed into my bed for a morning cuddle and all I could feel was pain. Aching from the bottom of my pelvis spiraling down my limbs and radiating through every joint in my body. I couldn’t lie down. I tried sitting up and then the pain twin-folded. Only standing up either slightly leaning forward or walking in a small circle could ease the worst of the pain. It was seriously scary. As at the same time I tried to read the macmillans website about possible side effects to chemo, but I couldn’t find it. After an hour of crying/swearing/shivering and mostly standing, I decided to restart the painkillers I still had. When you started them you always started with a double dose.

After another hour I was almost pain-free! I got hold of some people in the UK that said that I needed to do a blood sample today to see where my whiteblood cell count and immune system was. They said that joint pain could be a side effect of the chemo or the immune boost injection I had a week ago.

I went to my local hospital to do the blood test. They were then supposed to fax the results back to LOC in London. Me and Dan then managed to squeeze in a lunch at lovely Perrito cafe in Santa Catalina. I felt almost normal planning this summers holidays, well as normal as you can planning it between bursts of chemotherapy.

Then my phone called. It was a doctor from the LOC. They had my values back from the blood sample. Not a white blood cell count to be proud of. Nearly “null” immune system, I was ordered to stay away from sick people (more than before) and to get 3 more immune boosting injections (so my joints can get a little more sore!). Well I give you a mission to try and get any Spanish doctor to agree giving the immune boosting injections to someone who isn’t already properly ill. Good luck with that. Maybe add that the patient has a low immunesystem before chemo and after her TBI some 2 1/2 years ago gets severely infected when she does catch something. My husband and I have called every possibility, every long line of friends on the island to try and get hold of the injections. (The only thing I haven’t tried is my vet) The LOC has called us another 3 times to hear about how we are getting on getting the injections. In the end they decided to put me on antibiotics again. So for my safety I am again eating another 5 days antibiotics. I feel ok so far, my youngest daughter Millie is a little more tired than usual and as I have to be so careful we are taking her temperature about once an hour. She has been told she is not allowed to sit in my lap which makes me irresistible to her! Forbidden fruit! 

But that has also been a theme throughout the day, people saying that fruit is bad for cancer patients. That you need to starve off sugar and that includes fruit sugar to become cancer free. They then say all you can eat are green vegetables as they are the only thing you can eat not feeding your cancer… At the moment it’s all a bit too much to take in, and I also went past the Swedish food shop in Santa Catalina finding a few favorites like Kex chocolate/ dammsugare (greenies) and some liqorish chocholate. They made their way into my handbag and now back in my house! I will go through my diet properly tomorrow when there is more time to think.

Keep smiling 🙂 all of a sudden your diet will make sense! Until then be happy over the senseless beauty of Swedish treats!

2 thoughts on “Joint pain

  1. Kämpa Emelie!skönt att du får vara nära dina käraste. Din fina Dilba hoppade strålande idag! Båda tjejerna är såna stjärnor! Snart kommer påskharen <3 stor kram <3 kärlek till er alla!

  2. Hi. Thinking of you! Would it be to difficult to stay in England during your treatment?! Just hoping you get all the best help you need. Or is This a small problem that you can fix? Hope you are better tomortow.

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