18th May 2020, Royal Marsden Hospital, Surrey, England
Chemo. What a club to be a member of.
It’s week two of the chemotherapy treatment… and the rules have changed at the Royal Marsden, as mask wearing is now mandated for all.
Jo and the kids shaved my head yesterday, I clearly didn’t look menacing enough, so a number 1 all over was the way to go. It also means I probably won’t need to cut it again until the new year.
Last week was tough. Weds to Friday, I felt like I was in a perpetual red wine hangover, and on Friday I was so tired I had a little nap at a garden centre in Kent. The nausea was manageable, but the heartburn was horrendous.
Well, that’s an unexpected bonus
There was one other rather more interesting side effect of this treatment though, erections.
I should probably clarify that I’m only 40, and that erections are still quite perfectly normal. They’re just so… spontaneous. One minute I would be having a little flick through eBay, and bosh. I almost clicked buy it now.
Apparently it could be down to the dexamethasone, a wonder steroid that they use for all kinds of things. It definitely seems to fix the gigantic genital swelling quite nicely too.
The doctor gave me some Lansoprazole pills for the heartburn but was rather more cautious about the long term use of the steroids.
“Which would you rather? More erections or less swelling? By the way, if we keep you on this long term there’s a good chance you’ll get diabetes. We could give you a few for special occasions?”
So there’s something to ponder on.
Someone told me my veins were lovely today, which is a hell of a line…. Also, they didn’t have to bring a specialist vascular nurse in this week to get my cannula in – so there’s another little win.
After this I have one chemo session left and then it’s radiotherapy till the first week of June.
Me, in the chemotherapy chair at The Royal Marsden 
A large cannula in my arm during chemotherapy treatment