{"id":144,"date":"2020-10-14T21:01:04","date_gmt":"2020-10-14T20:01:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.knob.blog\/?p=144"},"modified":"2020-12-11T23:44:12","modified_gmt":"2020-12-11T23:44:12","slug":"this-chemo-stuff-is-tough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.knob.blog\/penile-cancer-journal\/this-chemo-stuff-is-tough\/","title":{"rendered":"This chemo stuff is tough.."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

18th May 2020, Royal Marsden Hospital<\/a>, Surrey, England<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chemo. What a club to be a member of.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jo and the kids shaved my head yesterday, I clearly didn\u2019t look menacing enough, so a number 1 all over was the way to go.  It also means I probably won\u2019t need to cut it again until the new year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, that’s an unexpected bonus<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

There was one other rather more interesting side effect of this treatment though, erections. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I should probably clarify that I\u2019m only 40, and that erections are still quite perfectly normal. They\u2019re just so… spontaneous.  One minute I would be having a little flick through eBay, and bosh.  I almost clicked buy it now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apparently it could be down to the dexamethasone<\/a>, a wonder steroid that they use for all kinds of things. It definitely seems to fix the gigantic genital swelling quite nicely too.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The doctor gave me some Lansoprazole<\/a> pills for the heartburn but was rather more cautious about the long term use of the steroids.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhich would you rather?  More erections or less swelling?  By the way, if we keep you on this long term there\u2019s a good chance you\u2019ll get diabetes.  We could give you a few for special occasions?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So there\u2019s something to ponder on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Someone told me my veins were lovely today, which is a hell of a line….  Also, they didn\u2019t have to bring a specialist vascular nurse in this week to get my cannula in<\/a> – so there’s another little win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After this I have one chemo session left and then it\u2019s radiotherapy till the first week of June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n