Chemotherapy (Round 1) May 17th to 22nd

 I didn't, in the end, start the Chemo on Monday 17th, but instead on Tuesday 18th, as such this means that my final day of this round of chemo is Saturday May 22nd as I write this. The delay to the start was due to a number of different factors. One being that I think there were some delays from pharmaceuticals, 2nd being I still had yet to have my PICC line insertion. This was supposed to have happened on Thursday/Friday of the previous week, but as my prior posts showed, the chest pains I was having made the procedure unfeasible. I ended up having this done on Monday 17th. And finally the more amusing of the reasons, is that Chemotherapy can make you infertile, so there was a big push for me to be able to... "produce" prior to chemo starting. I can't imagine anyone wants to hear too much about the mechanics of that kind of stuff, but suffice to say being in a hospital room with wires hanging out of you, and nurses telling you scheduled time slots to do said producing is not particularly motivating. 

I didn't quite get this level of service from the NHS. Also this is from the film Road Trip, I'm not just adding porno gifs into my blog I promise.

Moving on from that imagery, on Monday 17th after the "production", I had my PICC line procedure, which required a platelets transfusion prior. Platelets basically make sure you don't bleed out, average person should be between 150-300, I was around 40, which is OK(ish) certainly not the lowest I've ever been. The PICC line, unlike the Hickman line which I had back in 2015 during my Aplastic Anaemia days, is a lot less "brutal" in its insertion according to the operating nurses. And they were completely right. For starters I was able to have the procedure done in my room, rather than an operating theatre. The PICC goes into the side of the bicep, so for me it's my right arm, fleshy bit below the muscle closest to the body. The procedure is fairly short, between 30 and 60 minutes. First thing they do is ultra sound your arm to find the vein they want to hook into. Once they know that, they apply some local anaesthetic to the area which you barely feel at all. At which point they begin trying to hook into the arm, so the needles are pushed in and poking around, my girlfriend Ana was allowed to be in the room during the procedure but as long as she remained seated, no-one wants someone passing out during. Everything was going well and we were having a chat during the op, I can feel the needles inside me but again, zero pain. What I thought I could feel was the vein already found and the nurses negotiating the wire up my shoulder and across towards my heart (they have to roughly measure the distance they'll be needing to traverse prior to the procedure). It turns out that's not what I could feel, as the nurse jokingly says to me "I'm playing dodgeball with your vein right now", which is when I realised the poking wasn't the wire going up along me, but instead still trying to get into the vein, like trying to stab a noodle with a fork, which definitely made me feel very queezy. Eventually the vein was hooked into and the wire passed along and voila, PICC line. A very easy and painless procedure.

During the procedure and after the Dodgeball comment (hence the sick hat I'm holding in case)

PICC line in all its' glory

On the 18th I had a Platelets transfusion prior to beginning my chemotherapy. The structure is 5 days, same chemo each day. Fludarabine first (lasts about 40 minutes) at around 11am and then Cytarabine which lasts 4 hours beginning around 4pm. This would happen each day until the 3rd day when a new chemo drug joins the party, which is dyed red so looks pretty intense, called Idarubicin and has to be applied manually over 10 minutes by a nurse while simultaneously on a drip. This is because it is concentrated chemo and has to be very slowly inserted, during which I need to be checked during its application in case I react somehow, this happens immediately before the Fludarabine. Anyway, day one passed without a hitch and no side affects. The highlight though was that my 6aside team won 2-1! Watching the team on video chat pull out that hard fought win was great, and instead of seeing Withers pick the ball out the net, I instead got to see him completely wipe out his own player Simon, talk about commitment to the cause! The clip below should show the team enjoying a well earned pint that I sent them.

On Wednesday I had both the Fludarabine and Cytarabine and everything was fine again. I was still still having temperature spikes unfortunately during all this, and, late on Wednesday was found to have Rhinovirus. Yep, I also exclaimed "what?" when I heard too. Not as bad as it sounds thankfully, basically like an incredibly mild cold, and actually in an odd way not necessarily bad news as it means I'm less likely to be diagnosed with something worse if that makes sense. I was told I had chosen the right virus, I'm just out here doing my part for the team. Despite this I needed to move ward, so at midnight on Wednesday while on a blood transfusion I was transferred to Davidson ward (Which is where I stayed in 2015). Walking through the hospital at midnight with blood attached to me felt very Resident Evil-esque.

Me with Rhinovirus

Thursday 20th I begun the fluorescent red one mentioned above prior to fludaramine. Everything again went fine, and I spent most of the day settling into my new room and unpacking all my stuff. The staff, just like at Waddington ward are all exceptional people and have made me feel very welcome. I had my first reaction to the chemo on Friday 21st, where towards the end of my bag of fludaramine I felt completely knocked out, very sleepy/dizzy and spent pretty much the whole day asleep. Only waking to get hooked into the later bags etc. If those are the worst reactions I have, I will be very grateful and very lucky.

Idarubicin in action

Today (Saturday 22nd) is my final day of Chemo. As it stands, so far so good. The next week ahead of me I'm hoping will be very uneventful and not much to write about. On top of the chemo, today I am having to have a 6 hour bag of Phosphate. This is actually very annoying because it's pretty much my own fault. I'm more than happy to have every tablet, any procedure and operation, be poked and prodded, but the phosphate soluble tablets in water taste absolutely rank. Like literally vile. And as such I haven't exactly been doing them so to speak... So now I need a phosphate transfusion, but apparently this is a lot better than the tablets, so in reality I guess I did everyone a favour. You're welcome. My numbers continue to fall, with my platelets apparently as low as 6 (think my lowest is 3), because of this I've been extra careful today, although tbh, I go most days without somehow bleeding somewhere, but you can never be too careful. As such this will be a long day as the chemo is finished, there is still a couple hours left of phosphate, and a 30 minute bag of platelets to go. Hopefully I'll be unplugged from everything no later than 1am.

I want to continue to thank everyone who has been in touch, from messages to phone calls, cards everything. It really has meant a huge amount. My new company, SublimeSkinz, have been amazing with their support. Despite being out of action so soon after joining they still publicly announced my joining on LinkedIn which really meant a lot.

My gf Ana donating blood, although I think she did it more for the kitkats and snacks they give you afterwards, rather than anything altruistic.

Sister decided to glam up for a blood donation. Must be off to an 80s party after.

Big up Aimee

Finally fully converted Luke to a Charlton fan.

To add some good news, my good friend and all round great guy Simon is getting married. I was lucky enough to find out I'd be a groomsman and received some swanky cufflinks, bit too classy for me I think. Absolutely cannot wait to attend what I'm sure will be an incredible wedding, and a messy stag do.

I also want to thank my teacher from Beths, Mr Steve Brunsdon who from his extensive network of Charlton contacts was able to produce a get well soon message from Jake Forster-Caskey, Charlton's player of the season (see below), hopefully he will be signing a new contract with the club and guiding us to automatic promotion in the coming season.

As always will finish with links for where to go to help;

https://www.anthonynolan.org/ - Anthony Nolan (Under 30s)

https://www.bbmr.co.uk/joining-the-register/ - British Bone Marrow Registry (under 40s can go here)

https://my.blood.co.uk/ Blood donations. This helps everyone from all types of illness, car crashes, motorbike crashes, birth complications. A lot of people in their lives will at some point need a blood donation, its easy and quick, and you get a biscuit.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/john-fiddes2 - My good friend John is raising money for Anthony Nolan (those swab kits are free to the public but cost a lot to produce) by climbing Ben Nevis for his 30th Birthday. God knows why, certainly won't be how I'll spend my 30th ;) 

All these can be found on; https://linktr.ee/AdamRiley