I have now had two doses of Daratumumab, and contrary to earlier theories, I am struggling to find my feet with it. As I write this, my last dose was on Thursday, four whole days ago. And since last Thursday, I have been feeling, how do I put it… out of sorts. ‘Out of sorts’ is the polite way of putting it. It’s the sort of thing a family would say in a post war drama set in a remote village, who are attempting to shield their neighbours from fact that their matriarch cannot stop kissing the wallpaper. I haven’t been kissing the wallpaper, I don’t have any wallpaper, but I have, as I said, been feeling out of sorts. I do not know what happened during my 12 hour visit to St Bart’s on Thursday, but since then, I have been feeling uncontrollably, unreasonably and inexplicably out of sorts.
As somebody who used to enjoy a drink or five, I was able to diagnose myself almost immediately. Without any doubt, I can say that for the last four days, I have been feeling uncontrollably, unreasonably and inexplicably anxious.
Anxiety is not my friend. Forgive me for pointing out the obvious, but it has never been my friend. Back in my pre myeloma life, I was familiar with this level of anxiety. That’s why I know that I do not deserve to feel this way now. Once upon a noughties, at my very worst, I would have gone out on a Friday night, drank far too much to be deemed a lady, delivered to persons unknown a healthy dose of generous mouth and then rounded off my evening by doing something I should not have done with somebody from my office. I would then have to wait until the Monday morning for everything to be at peace in my mind again. In the meantime, the alcohol I consumed would trick me into thinking that the world, that’s right, the World, hated me and that everybody I knew was laughing at me. Not only was everybody laughing at me, they all thought me a simpleton. At least back in my days of drinking, I would have had, initially at least, enjoyed myself. The alcohol fuelled anxiety was a payoff for having fun. On Thursday, I did not have that type or any type of fun; this feeling of anxiety just engulfed me and it has been my constant companion ever since.
Why I ask? Why, indeed. I had a counselling session last Monday and I felt fine. I even commented that I felt like I had nothing to talk about because everything seemed to be so, under control. Famous last words. Tentatively at least, I was managing the beast that is My Myeloma. And then, Thursday came…
Thursday’s trip to the hospital was not easy, in fact, like my visit the previous week, the visit was frought with uncertainty. The day before, I was told that the IT system at St Bart’s was down, which meant that once again my drugs could be delayed. The threat of another delay spun my head into multiple directions (that usually happens when one is ‘spun), but understanding that these things can happen, I encouraged myself to stay calm. By the close of play on the Wednesday, I was told that the Pharmacy had my prescription and all being well, and with a sigh of relief, my treatment would go ahead as planned. I arrived at the hospital the following day at 10am, and I could immediately sense the problems this IT issue had caused. The handwritten sign in the waiting area saying ‘all chemotherapy will be delayed by 2-3 hours’ was also something of a giveaway.
I was shown to my bed for the day 30 minutes after my arrival. By midday, I had yet to have any tests done, seen any drugs, had a cannula fitted or been told anything about the plan for my day. I thought my day would have followed a similar course to my first day’s treatment. I could see that the Medically Trained People were stressed, so I resisted being too much of a nuisance but by 1pm, I had pressed the magical bell twice to see what was happening… It was not forthcoming. Mamma Jones was due to pick my up at my flat at 8.30pm, so I was ever mindful of the time. My friends delivered my lunch around this time. I have little memory of this, but I know what I ate and that they refused to take any money from me. My friends are nice like that.
It was around 2pm that medical things started to happen. The cannula went in and I was given my pre-meds. Unlike the previous week, where I was under near constant monitoring, okay that was an exaggeration, hourly monitoring, monitoring had significantly dropped off in comparison. My memory is a bit hazy, and I’ll get to the reason for that shortly, but I think the main infusion started around 3-3.30pm. Before my treatment could start, I was told that I had to be booked in for a bed for that night thus causing a further delay, although I was told that I wouldn’t actually need said bed, because they had started too late for me to be treated solely by the Daycare staff.
Only with the benefit of hindsight can I see that this environment might be the reason I was on edge. I like a timetable, and whilst I realise that My Myeloma is unpredictable, the timetable I had for that day went out the window before I even arrived. The plan for Mamma Jones to pick me up and take me back to the land of the Fens was by that point on Thursday afternoon also under threat. I remember thinking if that was under threat, would future weeks be similarly uncertain. And then, a panic set in.
This might be the time to say that prior to last Thursday, if anybody had asked me how I felt about my first dose of Daratumumab, I would have told you a story about how it left me with 3.5 good days a week. In fact, so certain was I of how the treatment made me feel and how it was going to fit into a week of my life; I would have told them about the blog I was writing entitled ‘3.5 Days’.
My first dose of Daratumumab was on the 20 April (you can read all about that 10 hours of bliss right here https://ejbones.wordpress.com/2017/04/22/day-1-take-2-part-ii/). I suspect it was a result of the 20mg of Dexamethosone taken prior, but for some reason I was extremely tired in the days that immediately followed my treatment. The 10 hours I was in the hospital would also have played a part in the sleep that followed. By Sunday 23 April, I felt back to ‘normal’. Well, as close to normal as my body allows.
So there you have it, it was all so simple. Based on one whole week of funny feelings, I felt safe enough in my assumption that I would now be giving up 3.5 days of my week to my treatment and I was able to start telling people about it. My plan, my weekly schedule, would all being well, look something like this:
• Every Wednesday morning, I am required to go to St Bart’s for blood tests – 0.5 days
• Every Thursday would be taken up with treatment – 1 day
• Every Friday and Saturday, I would be in bed getting over my steroids – 2 days
All in, I had calculated 3.5 days a week given to My Myeloma treatment and 3.5 days a week for myself. I enjoyed how the title of my non-existent blog had two meanings. Depending on how you fill your own cup, one could read the title as 3.5 good days or 3.5 bad days. Evidentially, it doesn’t take much to entertain me.
Back to the Thursday at hand, and I could see this plan, this schedule I created for myself very quickly, slipping away.
I do not know if it is a management technique when I get frustrated with things going slowly, or if by Thursday afternoon I was genuinely tired, but I soon found myself snoozing. The environment of a chemotherapy daycare ward, makes for a very broken sleep. This resulted in me confusing my dreams with reality, which as time has gone on, I realise added to my anxiety. Even now, I do not know if conversations I had with my lunch time visitors and a later visitor actually happened, or if I dreamt them.
Sleep normally relaxes me, but my sleep on Thursday, despite making the time go faster threw me into a state of confusion. At the time, I recall telling somebody that I did not know what was real and what was not. No wonder I still feel out of sorts.
I’m not shoehorning it in, I think this nicely brings me on to another cause or should that be contributor to my anxiety and that is my drugs. I am on a lot of medication and although none of these have changed in the last week, I cannot help but think that one or some of them have set my teeth on edge. At the bare minimum, the drugs could be the reason I was in and out of such a broken sleep. The broken sleep has given me that same feeling I used to have after five too many drinks. I feel I was rude to my friends and I feel like they are were disgusted by me. I have checked with them, and I wasn’t rude and I did nothing to create disgust. And yet the anxiety still exists.
Tricks are still being played upon me. Even today, I feel irrational. I could describe my irrationality at length, but I think all you need to know is that I am still out of sorts.
I wish I could put my finger on the cause. I’m fairly certain that my friends do not think I am a cretin and that those who visited me on Thursday did not leave thinking I was metaphorically kissing the wallpaper. I keep telling myself it is only my medication, much like I do when I am on my steroids and I can feel myself about to blow. This feeling is not me. I am embarrasssed by my uncertainty, and I hate feeling vulnerable.
This doubt is not me.
This anxiety is not me.
I wish I could finish this blog with a conclusion, with an ending to this particular story, but this is real life. It’s my life and things do not fit neatly into a box. I can tell you that I left the hospital shortly after 9pm last Thursday and the parting words from the Medically Trained Person was that there has to be a better system for getting and admitting the Daratumumab. For my sake, I sincerely hope for this to be true.
I need some structure.
EJB x
