Page 164 - She's One Crazy Lady!

nil. That was frightening – very frightening. Dave was, without doubt, my guardian angel that night. Had he have not called in to borrow some chairs (with my door being open) I would not have seen anyone, for he would have thought I’d decided to stay put and Marilyn wouldn’t have rung me thinking I was at Alison’s. I was lucky – very lucky!
Each day brought new hope but my temperature still wasn’t down enough. My blood count was on the up and I was feeling stronger. As is my norm, I chatted with the nursing staff a lot and befriended another lady – Carol, from Daventry who came in two days after me with exactly the same symptoms. Carol was on the same trial as me and she had just had her first dose of Taxotere. It was really good to compare notes and so funny one afternoon when her husband came into my room thinking I was Carol and started chatting to me. It wasn’t until I turned round that he realised his mistake and said that because we were both bald and of the same build we looked the same from behind. Carol thought it hilarious and was only glad her husband hadn’t been too romantic with his words!!!
She and I kept in touch until we had finished the Trial and neither of us were to experience this set back again because we were told the dose for No. 2 would be reduced by 20%. We did, however, have to endure many more side effects and joked that we were becoming hypochondriacs. We both asked if the reduction would mean the drug not being so effective in killing off cancer cells but were assured it would not make a difference and that they had anticipated this.
After 6 days of almost isolation I was allowed to go home but I was still feeling anxious knowing that Round Two was only days away.
Mairead was also worried because she hadn’t been able to get hold of me and was unaware I had been taken into hospital. She listened intently to what had happened and understood my fear of the next round, patting me on the arm saying: “You’ll be here!” God, I hoped so. I loved her confidence. There were a few scares when my blood count was low and twice I had to be checked out by a doctor but generally, I coped very well and was kind to myself on the bad days.
Marilyn and I even made it to Whitby for a few days which did us both good. Staying in a lovely hotel we decided to share a room to cut the cost. We both liked to read before going to sleep so I thought nothing of it when she put my wig on to the globe of the bedside light next to me – ‘to help keep its shape’ – she said. After a while I thought I could smell burning and alerted Marilyn who said she could smell burning too – it was my wig! Thank goodness we hadn’t fallen asleep!
February 14th: Round Two – Taxotere
Diary: “Side effects not good but not as bad as No. 1 – so far – just so tired and lethargic and still missing everyone – my mind in a mess thinking about school – thinking about going back – thinking about not going back, trying to make sense of what was happening with the Authority and the school itself.”
“Marilyn put my wig on to the globe of the bedside light next to me – ‘to help keep its shape’ – she said. After a while I thought I could smell burning and alerted Marilyn who said she could smell burning too – it was my wig! ”
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