Finally chemo for us

Just an update. John was admitted to hospital on Friday with a temp of 38.8, probably pneumonia though we are still not sure. He has a horrendous cough and is quite poorly, next chemo is postponed (due Wednesday) of course. He is neutropenic. We managed two chemos with one infection (UTI treated at home) and now this. I knew chemo would be difficult for us due to the supra pubic catheter and the infection risk and so it has proved.

I’ll let you know how things go.

Devonmaid

Thinking of you both Devonmaid - I hope John is home soon and the next cycle goes ahead as planned xxx

What a blow A. I do hope he can fight off infection and get the most from chemo. It’s a tough regime. Any signs of impact from first two rounds (apart from the problems!). Thinking of you both.

Thanks for your kind words, tests have now revealed that this is definitely flu (Aussie flu they think). So far the impact on PSA from the two chemos have been start 81, first chemo 42, then next test 67 but pain now under control so I think even at 75% it was doing something. It will be postponed and the oncology team will decide what to do after seeing him tomorrow and discussing the situation. Really, I’ve been very concerned about infections because of the SPC essentially, people with SPCs are assumed to always have an infection and this has often been the case for John. With chemo that does make life much harder.

John has improved a lot since Friday with antibiotics and rehydration, yesterday was scary I must admit but today was better. He is still very shaky (known as rigor) apparently a common flu symptom, it’s hard to watch. But I no longer fear for his life, but whether it is worth carrying on with chemo, that’s another issue.

I’ll update when the oncology team tell us what they think is best.

Love

Devonmaid xxx