BEAM me up Scotty, there’s no intelligent life down here…

BEAM me up Scotty, there’s no intelligent life down here…

Today, day 2 of BEAM chemotherapy, was thankfully another fairly uneventful day. Woke up feeling a bit flushed and looking a bit pink in the face. Checked my temperature and it was low 36’s so no fever. Doc said later when I saw him that it was normal after such a fat dose of the fabulous sounding Carmustine that I had yesterday. I was also a bit nauseous, but nothing an anti-sickness tab couldn’t sort out. Didn’t stop me going down for a full English breakfast – got to keep my strength up now..!

About the most interesting thing to happen today was I was fitted with this machine called a CADD pump. It delivers a chemo drug at pre-configured times & doses, enabling patients like me to have chemo as an out-patient as opposed to taking up bed spaces on wards unnecessarily (I’m currently staying in a hotel on the top of the hospital until I need to go into isolation on Tuesday). St James was one of the first hospitals in the world to have these devices and helped develop them. I’m having Cytarabine in mine twice daily, but they can put almost anything in them I guess.

My CADD pump

Anyway, I also had a big bag of this drug called Etopiside via an IV drip given over 4 hours. I have had both this and Cytarabine previously during ESHAP chemo, albeit at a lower dose, and they are fairly easy to tolerate. This is going to be the case for the next 3 days, so there are no ‘known unknowns’ for a few days. The bit I am dreading is going to be on Monday when I will be given a drug called Melphalan. It is renowned for destroying your mouth/gut lining and people often get horrible ulcers/stomach pain/nausea shortly afterwards. Apparently it helps to suck ice lollies before, during and after which helps prevent the damage. Anyway no point in stressing about it – its go to be done…

Don’t remember if I mentioned previously that for the time I’m on BEAM chemo I am staying in a hotel room at the top of St James’. So that you can get an idea of my world I will end this post with pics of the hotel room and the view I have of Leeds:

hotel_room Leeds at night

Emily is on her way here now and we are going out to get a bite to eat in Chapel Allerton. There’s a great Italian restaurant that we found which we are both keen to try out again. A bit of normality to end the day!

3 Comments

Evan Ritchie

Sounds full on but like you are coping with it amazingly. Fingers crossed that the lollies do their job. Are Magnum Classics allowed? Glad you had some quality time on your travels too. Kate sends her love too.

Reply
Clive

I dunno if I’d be able to gobble multiple Magnums sadly so may stick to ice lollies or even just ice cubes. Hope you and family are having an awesome time and recharging the batteries. Look forward to seeing you soon pal!

Reply
Lisa mcloughlin

Good use of the time you have on your hands Clive. Appreciate your blogs – understanding the series of treatment keeps us right on board with you. Stay Strong. We all send our love.

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