Sunday, September 6, 2020

The joyful Side effects 🦖

Hi everyone! Long time no speak, I hope everyone is staying safe & enjoying getting back to normal. I’m carrying on my blog posts in order of what I origannly planned, it’s just taken me a little ( or a lot longer) between posting, Sorry! 




The joyful side effects🦖

As in my last post (a good while ago) I've undergone multiple chemotherapy in a effect to control the beast of cancer inside of me. So this will be going through the all important side effects that come through it which is proving difficult to make light hearted and some how fun but here's my best shot! 

When you start any type of chemotherapy, the doctors or nurse will hand you a piece of paper with all the side effects on, they vary from chemo to chemo but they can be generalised in the following; 

● Hair loss                                                                         ●changes in taste buds 

●Mouth ulcers                                                                  ● tingling / numbness in limbs 

●Tiredness                                                                        ● diarrhoea & constipation 

●Hot flushes                                                                     ● nausea 

● chemo brain (this isn't actually on the paper but should very well be!)                                                                                                                    

  Not to be a brag but i have or still am experiencing all of these wonderful side effects. Yet still, I don't understand why the side effects cant be a good tan & luscious locks!? This isn't an extensive list but are the most common side effects. 

After you've had a day of chemotherapy it doesn't take too long for the side effects to kick in, I was lucky enough to use the cold caps and they prerved my hair for some what a year before it was coming out in massive clumps. As of the other side effects, I usually experience nausea and tiredness within a few hours the rest come within a day or so. 

It is hard to go into detail about all, the side effects as there is so many plus its changing constantly and this would go from being a short blog to an extended novel, and nobody wants that! 





Top tips & tricks to help manage some effects; 


Hot water bottle 

Ooo I experience sever bone aches and pains and even stabbing pains in my chest as a side effect, hot water bottles are my best friend. Hot baths work too - any kind of heat! 

Naps 

Need to re charge your body regularly can be hard work, but listen! Napping is also a great pass time. 

Moisturizer 

Your skin will become very very dry, moisturizer should become your best friend, everywhere! Helps prevent slits and thin skin from breaking too. 

Ice cream 

Ice cream helps with everything, hot? Ice cream. Mouth ulcers? Ice cream. Too nauseous to eat? Ice cream. Its also a good way to keep your calories up if you cant eat!


Thank So heres side effects in a nutshell, sorry for the long wait once again! 

As always thank you for your love and continued support through messages etc 


Love 

Danielle 🖤

Thursday, March 26, 2020

A Day Out - or not!



A Day Out - or not!



So now that we've covered about me, and diagnosis, it's time for the big one. Chemotherapy. 
Everyone has heard about chemotherapy, but not much is known about it. Most people know it makes you ill, and your hair falls out, but that's it. Most of the time, this is all most people need to know, unless you are having it.


So for my first chemotherapy I was petrified. I knew that it was the best option to have as I needed it to try and get rid of this horrible illness . Before it, the consultant gave me a huge bundle of paper which included what was going to happen, how long for, and the side effects etc.  I didn't really want to read it all as I'm the type of person of what will be will be, however, one side effect stuck out; imminent hair loss. I have never been attached to my hair as most of the time it was on top of my head in a bun due to work etc however, when someone tells you that no matter what you do, you will loose your hair, its hard.



To be honest I can't really remember much about my first chemo, other than being scared. However the 'routine' of going for chemo is as follows;
I wake up (usually later than expected, as normal), have a shower, put some make-up on in an attempt to look half human. I pack my 'chemo bag' (of which I learnt later on tips and tricks of what to put in there). put some half comfy clothes on, usually jeans and a jumper. Then try to have breakfast, if you have breakfast before chemo you're less likely too feel as nauseous as on a empty stomach. Then play with Bella for a little while, maybe even take her for a walk if I go to chemo later and then leave.  I am a ball of stress the morning of chemotherapy. It doesn't matter how many times I have gone or how close to the end of that round I am, I am full of anxiety. 



At the hospital I go in, have all of the observations which includes a blood test, check my temperature, blood pressure, weight etc. Then the nurse heads off to get the bits and bobs to plug me in ready for the infusion. (Everytime I go for chemo I have to have the obs as if there's a peak in my temperature etc, it can be sign of an infection as I wouldn't have chemo that day. due to chemo lowering your white blood cells, if you already have an infection and then have chemo, it gives you a higher risk of neutropenic sepsis, which isn't fun)
Usually whilst the nurses get their bits together, I go for a wonder to see if there's anyone around whom I know or can have a decent conversation with. Most of the time it's people of the over generation who wants to be left alone. Worth a try every time!



So when the nurses are ready with their bits and bobs, they place a cannula in my hand, arm or anywhere they can get it and plug me in, off we go! It is then time for the pre-meds which included anti-sickness, steroids and a few oral tablets. Then we get down to the red devil and its friends. Its called the red devil as its red, and that's primarily the worst drug of them all. it comes in a large syringe and then is followed by around 2/3 bags of different types of chemo. Then a bag of flush to finish it all off!

The RED devil


All of this only takes a few hours, so I'm usually free to go pretty early, then to try and get on with the rest of the day before feeling too poorly. I do try to take it easy, I usually take Bella for a walk when I get home and the chill for the rest of the night with Bella & the cats!

So that's it, a day of Chemotherapy treatment in a nutshell!


Bella, enjoying a walk!

Sorry for taking so long to write this blog, life has been hectic with a new chemo etc, I'll try and do another one asap.
As always, thank you for your continued support, lovely messaged and questions.

love Danielle x

  ❤

Tuesday, December 3, 2019

Ask a stupid question, Get a stupid cancer!


I never really had to deal with cancer throughout my life, I knew nothing about it, the treatments, side effects or anything! So when your 19 years of age, going to the doctor to what you think would be a ‘normal’ scan result, turned into the worst day of my life. Cancer never even crossed my mind before this, I mean, why would it?

So lets rewind to how it all started. In the summer of 2017 (may/june) I started having seizures which would happen at night usually before bed. These were blackout episodes of which my body would shake uncontrollably and my eyes would roll in the back of my head. After around 2 mins I would come back around and just feel very groggy for the rest of the night. I visited the local GP a few times after this and they were dismissed and was put down to being stressed form working in a busy environment, not enough sleep etc.

Later in the summer  of 2017 I started to have sever headaches. Every. Single. Day. During this time I was still having the seizures. Back to the GP I went so they started doing some investigating. All blood tests came back normal, urine tests and neurology exams. They dismissed this again however I knew that something wasn’t right. I went back multiple times and finally got referred for a CT scan on my brain, I had to wait 4 months for this. The results then came through and the doctors put the seizures down to epilepsy so they put me on the suitable medication to try to control the sezuires which none of these was working. I tired around 11 different medications!! 
I knew something was still not right with as nothing was working but I thought it was just a strange thing to unfortunately happen to me. 
 After a month or two, I visited the GP multiple times again and after a few months again they put me through for another CT scan. 
On 10th may 2019 I was phoned by the doctors to say I needed to go in that afternoon to discuss the scan results. This is a day I will never ever forget. 
Of course, I went to what I thought was the same as before, nothing wrong on the scan. But no, I was hit with the news that I had a grade 4 brain tumour! What??! 
 During this consultation,  I had to process all of the information he gave to me, then start deciding on treatment options all within a 15 minute consultation. It wasn’t easy! So I was basically told that I had no choice but to go through chemotherapy as if I didn’t, it would just take over my brain and I would be brain dead within a year, we obviously didn’t want that to happen!  Surgery was an option however it only had a 15% success rate as its attached to important cells in my brain and they would either have to leave most of the tumour there, or chop half my brain out, which, you guessed, wasn’t a good option either! Therefore the most logical decision was to start chemotherapy. 
So I was basically told this news on the Thursday, and I started chemo on the Friday! Not really enough time to process it all never mind figure out how I was going to tell my loved ones the news I have just been told! I was totally unprepared of what I was going to go through, physically or mentally! The biggest challenge that anyone could go through during their lives, never mind a 19 year old girl!


Danielle x
Just 3 days after my diagnosis, trying to push it to the back of my mind. 

Sunday, November 3, 2019

DANIELLE PRITCHARD- The preliminary


Welcome to my blog!
Seems the right way to start my blog is to introduce myself due to you taking the time to read my ramblings of my entire story with cancer so far, and what’s to come in the future! So that being said, my name is Danielle Pritchard, I am  21 years old and slightly animal obsessed (ok, very obsessed!!) I was very hesitant on starting a blog as I’m a very private person, I wasn’t sure if I really wanted people I have never even met knowing about me and what was happening in my life. Very little people know what I deal with in everyday life and the experiences I am going through but how are they supposed to know if I never tell them?
My life has completely changed completely in more ways than ever imaginable, nothing is like it used to be. I was working in a veterinary practice, my dream job, working for everything I have ever wanted, to be qualified, a house and a family. However this has been put on hold for what has been, and still is, the biggest challenge of my life!
10th may 2018, I was diagnosed with grade 4, glioblastoma (GBM) brain tumour. This is a very rare form of brain tumour and is one of the hardest to treat, especially with the limited options available in the UK!
Throughout this blog, I am going to be talking about my diagnosis, chemotherapy, the side effects, scans, radiation and everything else which comes as a bundle when you’re diagnosed with cancer!  But not to stress, this blog isn’t going to be all doom and gloom, I’m trying to pick out every inch of positivity what’s left of this journey and hopefully, even if I just help one person going through similar things to find that positivity alongside me, I would have achieved everything that I hoped to do through this blog/ sharing my story.
 
Me & Simbaa, my cat, before diagnosis!
 
Danielle x