Day 23 - Swimming again

Fatigue and constipation are expected side-effects of chemotherapy. Due to the pain I was having to put up with, I started to use the morphine, which compounded the fatigue. My use of the Panadol and Panadein Soluable was compounding the constipation, but helping relieve the pain for a short time.

So I was in a lot of pain, constantly tired and couldn't go to the toilet, my lip was twice its normal size and constantly burned, my neck on both sides is burnt and my mouth is full of sores now. I don't know if having the cocaine mouth wash prior to bed helped or not, but probably not.

It is easy to get depressed about how you feel. More specifically, it gets you down because there doesn't seem to be anything that you can do to manage these symptoms, and I know there's still 5 weeks to go. Three weeks treatment and another two weeks following before the effects being to dissapate.

As a result, I look for ways, for oppportunities, to feel good. It was my son's first day at his new school and we were all really excited for him. He was being very positive and this rubbed off. Vicki dropped him at the bus stop on her way to work. I decided I'd go down to Sorrento Beach for a swim. I'd been promising myself that I'd do it for some time but this morning I was determined. So I jumped in the car and drove down to the beach.

There were a few people swimming already, which helped me determine the most common direction to swim. It was inside the shark barrier, and being my first time, I wasn't sure where to swim or the distance.

I wore my Garmin 910X watch and set it to the swim mode. This enabled me to track what I did. The swimmers already in the water basically swam parralel to the beach or out from the beach to the shark net and back. I decided to do both. In total, I swam 2kms and it was bliss.

My throat was very sore for the first few strokes, I'm not sure why but it didn't last, thank goodness.

Afterwards, I had a shower under one of public rinse-off showers on the shore before driving home. I felt good, even if it was for just a short period of time.

I wasn't eating much but I managed to drink an Up N Go when I got home. Even though the food doesn't taste very good, my throat is sore when swallowing and I've eaten very little, I simply don't feel hungry at all. I"m not sure why that would be the case.

I had a shower, brushed my teeth, applied the antibiotic cream to my face and once ready, I sat down to do some work for a few hours before I had to go o the hospital. My appointment was at 3.20pm and I had a follow up appointment with the Radio Oncologist.

I spoke to the radio oncologist but nothing much had changed since Monday except that I mentioned I was having trouble with constipation. He prescribed some additional medication to help me with this. Just a few more pills to take. He asked a few of the standard questions and I left. Among the questions I had, was if I was able to drive while using the morphine medicine. Unfortunately for me, he was quite categoric that I shouldn't be driving. It was jointly because I would be getting tired more often and easily, and it also meant I would not be covered by my insurance if I had an accident. Brilliant!

I drove more carefully than normal on my way home.

I got home around 5pm and laid down in the lounge. I woke up about 9 oclock so I knew I wouldn't be going to bed until after midnight. I washed my mouth with the Panadol / Panadien soluable and brushed my teeth, then sat down to watch some telly and write a bit more of my blog. Later that night I rinsed my mouth with the cocaine mouthwash, before going to bed around 1.30am.