SORRY FOR THE GAP

We’ve just had the great pleasure of a visit from my son Andrew here in Siberia, the eastern region of Extremadura. His wisdom is only excelled by his IQ and he pointed out that if I don’t add to my blog people will discontinue surfing (is that the word?) it.
So I thought it proper to let my reader(s) know why the hiatus. Frankly, I have been feeling like shit. With the two chemo drugs (Zoladex and Casodex) working together I reached a point where I had more pain than Victor Mature or Charlton Heston could act out (remember the great grimacers?). Chest, stomach, waist, back, groin plus a dire lethargy where I simply lost the will to do anything. I managed to speak directly with the Specialist – literally by walking into his offices in Villanueva de la Serena - he decided there and then to call a halt to the Casodex on the premise that sometimes when Casodex is stopped the cellular reaction is such that the PSA (now 73) goes down.
We’ve yet to see – June 12.
One thing we laymen don’t realise is just how much poison there is in chemotherapy.
It took four weeks of withdrawal from the Casodex for various pains to lessen. When I picked Andrew up from a train at Ciudad Real I was almost embarrassed by the number of OUCHes and AAAHs I had to emit each time a new pain hit me. Thankfully we had a couple of hours drive back to the house so I could explain to him about the chemo and remove any great sense of alarm.
What really pisses me off is that I simply had to see the GP at Talarubias. I told him without drama about the multiplicity of pains (oh, and constipation) and asked him about the side effects of the drugs. Bugger me, if he didn’t go into the internet and start reading. I would have thought a little residual knowledge might have been in situ.
I have now been given pills to settle my stomach, painkillers, laxatives and I have been sent for a chest Xray. In essence the man was treating each symptom individually. My contention was – and I had rehearsed the whole thing in Spanish – that these dolors could not possibly be separate conditions.
It wasn’t until I finally went into a Google search for Casodex and read the guff for myself that I saw each side effect was included in my portfolio including extreme lethargy.
In summary, after nearly 5 weeks off the Casodex I am beginning to feel almost human.
My poor Bernice has had to contend with a semi-invalid at home, while her mother is detained in hospital in Wales with liver cancer, a terminal condition. She’s not had a happy time.
So, got that off my chest – hopefully there will less depressing stuff to follow