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I had my 8.5 hour surgery on January 2nd, 2008.  Long story short: wound up with staph at incision after surgery, rehospitalized, basically lost 2 weeks of Kegel training time. However, when trying, urine and mucus constantly leaked AROUND Foley anyway, Doctor & nurses too busy for me, still practicing Kegel at home,to no avail.
I've been to almost every story board for women and BC NeoBladder and I know it takes time but I don't EVER GET a "full" or "gaseous" or "feel wind" or "bloated" or "uncomfortable" as the need arises to urinate.  I NEVER feel the urge - 5 minutes or 2 hours. but every

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The first chemo is now doing its search and destroy mission and thankfully it is operating in stealth mode as I have no complaints.

My lovely neighbour and friend drove me to the hospital and stayed with me for my first round. It was advised to be accompanied the first time in case of an adverse reaction which would stop me from driving home. As I had no problems I will drive myself in the future.

As I have a new bladder the capacity to hold urine is very low and I noticed that 15 minutes before the chemo process had finished I was desperate for the loo. I started to get pain in my lower back

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The adjuvant chemo:

The appointment with the chemo nurse went well and the finer points of the drugs to be used and side effects were covered in great detail. As it is a progressive treatment the side effects will increase as the treatments continue. The side effects of the treatment are varied ranging from sickness, flu like symptoms, nerve damage, hearing loss and hair loss. All of which are temporary while under the influence of these poisons they will be giving me.

After the meeting with the chemo nurse I had to get some blood drawn for my appointment with the oncologist whom will be

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The last dose of this second chemo cycle was given today with a reduced dose because of low blood platelets.

 
Now I am entering into the rest phase for a couple of weeks before cycle three begins. This may be delayed one week because of the operation on the 20th.

 
Next Monday I meet up with my oncologist to get confirmation on this and to have a full blood work up to check my general health. 

So that’s it for the chemo for a few weeks and now my body has a chance to recover before the next wave.

 
The battle goes on….

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The look and see operation is provisionally booked for the 20th March and I am waiting for a confirmation letter for this date.

 
Apparently three days have been scheduled although the Urologist mentioned a one night stay if it is a minor repair. I guess they have to be cautious because of the chemo treatment at the moment which will extend the normal recovery.

 
Instead of getting my blood levels checked the day before each chemo I have been advised to arrive thirty minutes before my chemo appointment. This is much better as I now only have one trip a week to the hospital. It just means I will

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The fog is lifting today thankfully and I slept really well as I only woke up to take a pee once in the night.

 
I feel pretty refreshed today considering the effects of the last week’s chemo on my body, mind and spirit.

 
I jumped into the shower and my belly requested some nourishment so I have just scoffed down a couple of cheese and cucumber sandwiches and they were great.

 
The plan of action today is to use this energy burst to its greatest and get out of the house and gets lots of fresh air.

 
It is good to be back to the land of the living…..



The battle goes

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I am feeling pretty fragile at the moment and just trying to take things one day at a time.

It has been a struggle to function lately and this has hit me emotionally very hard this last week.

This is only the second cycle and I thought the side effects I have right now would have tapered off a little but they remain.

It is a foggy feeling and concentration is difficult and everything is just too much effort.

When I try to do my daily chores I am becoming more and more irritated with the things I cannot tackle. 

At least it will help me a little with my controlling ways were everything has a

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The cisplatin is a bitch:

This time round it has hit me hard and I have found it testing to find my feet the last few days. It has hit me like a wave of tiredness and with feelings of lacklustre and everything is just a struggle at the moment.

I am sleeping more and more and I have headaches throughout the day and since Thursday I have had a feeling of nausea although luckily I have not been physically sick.

Constipation has been pretty bad since Wednesday although yesterday evening my body finally allowed me to offload some goods which has been a great relief to my system I can tell you.

I had

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I am home again after the Cisplatinum chemo one night stay.

During the administration of the Cisplatinum I had cramp in my hand for around 3 hours which was not very pleasant.

The night time was the usual busy schedule of going to the toilet every hour because of all the fluids they give me to flush out the chemo.

It is pretty gruelling and tiring but I am home now so I am going to bed soon for a little sleep so that I can enjoy the evening.

The battle goes

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The second round chemo has been confirmed a go and the one night stay Wednesday for the big one.

Not sure what lifted my blood levels could have been the overload of fruit and vegetables I have been eating this last week.

Pomegranates are known to be a powerful antioxidant and body booster and I have had loads of this juiced this week. 

The battle goes

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