A week back into Chemo after a lengthy break for surgery. Remembering what its like after the time off. Everything has been largely as expected based on previous experience.
My iron levels were low so I had an iron infusion last Friday to address that, hopefully it assists with energy levels.
Plan is for another 3 rounds and then a short break for a holiday in early July.
The tumour and Lymph nodes that were removed during surgery were sent to the lab for analysis and the results are in.
The tumour from the bowel showed the cancer was contained in the bowel wall and showed evidence of good response to treatment with scar tissue where cancer cells would have been.
They assessed 23 lymph nodes and there were no signs of cancer in them. They cannot be sure as to whether or not there was never any cancer in the lymph nodes or the Chemo has cleared it all up. Either way no cancer in the lymph nodes is encouraging.
Back into Chemo next week (14th) to continue to treat the tumours in the liver.
2 weeks post surgery recovery continues to progress well with no ongoing issues or complications. Energy levels are slowly increasing.
My Oncologist is also happy with progress, and all going well I will resume Chemo on 14 May to continue to deal to the liver tumours. The scan I had early April showed continued shrinking of tumours so while treatment remains effective I intend to continue with the Chemo program.
They say slow and steady wins the race … slow and steady is not something that comes naturally but looks like thats the way recovery will progress. Today is a week since surgery and things get incrementally better each day. Celebrated the 1 week anniversary with a trip out for a coffee this morning.
Pain and movement etc get better each day, the biggest issue has been sleep, with the wound sites healing sleeping on my back is pretty much the only option and its not one that works well for me.
Continuing to work on reducing/optimising the pain relief and getting a balance between rest and movement to ensure fast and proper healing will remain the priorities in the coming days but everything seems to be well on track.
Surgery completed on Thursday 17th, the primary tumour in my Bowel was removed with no complications. The surgeon was happy with how it all went.
I had 4 nights in hospital … well Grace Hospital so it was more hotel that hospital. Got home at lunchtime today to continue recovery.
Pain was pretty intense on day 1 so it got smashed with what seemed like every pain killer in the cupboard. Once we got on top of it, it has been managed with lower level oral meds.
I am waiting for the bowel to settle down so I can get back to a normal diet. Just need to take it slow and steady (not something I am very good at) so not to block anything up.
All the medical professionals were also happy with post op recovery to date. Hoping that once everything settles down I’ll have fewer complications.
