22. Chemotherapy, part 5

Tuesday 17th January 2012


Chemotherapy, 1st week.


The Hiccups from HELL...


Day one in the Dimbleby Unit on Cisplatin, I experienced no side effects at all. I'm back home now on '5FU', on the portable pump and taking a regime of additional medication to counter the likely and the possible side effects of the Chemo... nausea and all the goes with it, being by far the worst and most likely.


Aprepitant 80mg, for 2 days
Ondansetron 8mg, for 2 days ( anti sickness )
Dexamethasone 4x 2mg, for 6 days ( steroid, for anti sickness, energy and appetite )
Metoclopramide 2x 10mg, for 6 days ( anti sickness ) 


On day two ( Tuesday ) no real noticeable side effects.


Day three the hiccups start, which sound funny, but really, really aren't...


Imagine the worst, most violent, hiccup you have ever experienced, now multiply that by x10. A hiccup so violent that you're convinced that you're going to 'snap your spine' or 'split your throat'. Follow that with half a dozen 'after-spasms' that 'bounce' your diaphragm like a cannonball dropped on a drum, and continue for an hour, to an hour and a half, then take half an hour, to 45 minutes to subside. Then calm for and hour or so. Then start all over again. 24 hours a day, for 3 days in a row.


For three days I didn't sleep for more than an hour at a time. I would end up pacing the flat for a couple of hours ( all night on and off ) before managing to get another hour or so of "sleep". After a day of that I managed to sleep for a few hours mid day-ish. Now for the next 5 days my body clock is upside down and I'm not sleeping for more than an hour, just 3 or 4 times in every 24 hours.


Also I'm experiencing a few of the other fun filled side effects from all the medication...


I'm constantly tired & fatigued due to the hiccups and lack of sleep and feel weak like post hangover or having the flu, but I'm also incredibly restless and 'twitchy", great combo, tired and restless.


I become hyper sensitive to certain volumes and frequencies of sounds. The crunch of a boiled sweet from the other side of the room sounds like a huge bundle of dried twigs being snapped inside my head, while my head is inside an oil drum.


I'm irritable ( much, much more than usual ).


I can't concentrate.


My palate & mouth lining has changed. Some flavors I just can't taste anymore, and my inner cheeks and tongue sides are 'puckered and sensitive'.


'Atomic' heart burn.


My throat and stomach have become 'hypersensitive'. Everything has to be masticated to pulp, and still when I swallow the effect on my gut is like having a bucket of hot bricks dropped down a well. 


All this lasts "full on" for 3 or 4 days, then day by day eases off. I get some sleeping pills from my G.P. and I've now slept properly for 3 nights in a row. Taste is slowly returning to my mouth, but my tongue is lined with ulcers running it's entire length and both sides. 


Jo tells me she read a blog from chap in similar situation to me who decided to skip the anti sickness medication after his first session in favor of the nausea etc, apparently after the second session he deeply regretted it.


Is it worth it ?...


Edited with thanks to Jo W