Day 15 - Routine

The staff in the Radiotherapy Day Centre at the Cancer Centre are seemingly perpetually upbeat. From my point of view, this is extremely welcome because everyone going there needs a bit of a lift just to feel alive again. Radiotherapy for me is every day. It gets so routine that it also gets tedious, boring and is definitely not something I look forward to. The reality is that when I have no other appointments, I leave home at 2.15pm to drive to the hospital, have my 15 minute treatment and drive home. I am already counting down the days to the 24th Feb, my last day.

The benefit is that I have all the hours until I have to leave to do some work.

I had porridge again for breakfast. My throat was a little sore but was not terrible, but porridge was perfectly suited. Milk based and fibrous. I followed this up with an Up N Go. I've found I'm drinking less tea and instead having the Up N Go drinks to help fill me up.

As usual, I followed this up with my normal M&T Routine. As well, I applied Sorbalene cream to my neck, salt solution and the topical antibiotic ointment to my face.

Now, having stopped taking the antibiotic tablets, the headaches I previously had to endure had all but ceased. I actually felt pretty darn good.

However, today was no different. It was the same boring radiotherapy routine. After doing a few hours work, having lunch of soup, 2 minute noodles and a buttered hot cross bun, while watching the Tour Down Under. I washed my mouth with my now salt-free boiled water and brushed my teeth.

I headed off to the hospital at 2.15pm.

I meet with the Radio Oncologist or his registrar after my radiotherapy session on Thursdays. This meeting assesses the impact of the radiotherapy on my health and wellbeing, including the side effects. I also get to ask any questions about the treatment or anything that may be affecting my life because of the treatment. There is a bit of checklist of health and wellbeing items we go through to compile a trend line as I progress. I also provide an update on my discussions with other doctors. Sometimes the record in my file (all online) hasn't been updated, plus I think it is worthwhile speaking to the doctor in my terms so that s/he can determine if I understand things correctly.

Today's meeting was fairly standard. We spoke about the mouthwash I was prescribed on Tuesday, my swimming and other exercise and my mouth is checked for infection or signs of distress. I have developed a couple of sores, that haven't yet ulcerated so no major pain to worry about just yet. I'm told this will come. More to look forward to.

I got back home around 5.30pm, and feeling really good, I decided to go for a swim. Wanting to stay out of the sun, I cheated and drove around to the local 25m pool. I wasn't sure how I was going to go, so decided I'd just do some light laps at first to ensure I was breathing ok and not quickly getting too fatigued. I can stand at any position in the pool, so this is not a big concern, but I still didn't want to get exhausted and cause anyone there, including myself any distress. I'm not much of a swimmer at the best of times, but it is somewhat relaxing and doesn't require a lot of planning. I have a go.

I started with a slow warm up, breast stroke and freestyle for 200m. Everything ok so far.

Because I was feeling pretty good, I decided during my warm up that I'd do 100m intervals, that way I could have a rest between each if I wanted to, while still cranking out 2kms. I'd be happy with that. Funny thing was, I started with each 100m over 3mnt splits, pretty easy and I was coping well, so I then decided I'd spend the rest of the session trying to achieve negative splits. I did 10 x 100 at 3 mnts, then 7 x 100m at 2.5mnts and 3 x 100 at 2mnts. Afterwards I felt great, but I was starting to get tired - even at 2mnts I was only just making it, so very little rest before taking off again. Besides, and I don't know why this happens, but I find towards to the end of my sessions my calves and feet/toes cramp up quite badly. Haven't found a solution yet. I did a short slow warm down, had a shower and headed home.

I had a bowl of Gnocchi for dinner, followed by an ice cream. Watched the final episode of Outlander series 2, then a bit more telly. I did my now increased hygiene routine, including my M&T Routine, salt solution and antibiotic face wash, Sorbalene cream on my neck and Biotene mouthwash (to provide moisture for my dry mouth). I then appled the Parafin ointment to my lips before going to bed around 10.15pm.