Latitude - I almost didn't make it

Last weekend was quite a roller coaster but it had a happy ending with me having an brilliant time at Latitude Festival. The drama started at 5.30am on Thursday morning (the day before I was due to go) when I woke up feeling hot, I took my temperature and it was 38.4! Not good, so I took my duvet off, opened the window and tried to cool down, I took my temperature again after about 30 minutes, it was still above 38.  First rule of chemo club is high temperature = bad news, call the emergency number straight away, follow their instructions.  Shit, all I could think about was having to miss Latitude, it had been booked for months before I was re-diagnosed and I was determined to go. I waited until 7am and woke up my older sister who was staying in my spare room.  I felt fine, just hot, when I had a high temperature on chemo before I felt awful, I felt sick and couldn't stop shivering.  This was different, not nearly as bad, but as I had a temperature it could be a sign of an infection in my body, I have to be super vigilant about this.  The lovely nurse I spoke to on the phone said I should come into the assessment unit, get my blood tested and to pack an overnight bag just in case.... Eeeek!

I arrived at the LRI Osborne assessment unit at 8am, for what turned out to be a very long day.  The nurses were amazing, explained everything that was happening, they took a load of blood, pumped me full of antibiotics (the type I'm not allergic to, having chemo twice does have its upsides!) and I waited for the results to come back.  It took a few hours, but finally good news...no sign of infection, or anything wrong with my blood tests, I was free to have my chemo! I have never been so happy to be told this before, I nearly skipped round to the chemo unit.

My chemo didn't quite go to plan though, the chemo drug I'm having every week can cause my body to have an allergic reaction, this happened before on my third week, and on Thursday it happened again.  When it happens, I get a really tight chest, short of breath and my face goes bright red.  I have to push the emergency button for a nurse and they stop the chemo drugs going in for a bit, I get injected with some more drugs to counteract the reaction, and then the nurses start the chemo again at a slower rate. It's all hands on deck when someone gets an allergic reaction on the chemo suite, they bring over the oxygen tank and everything.  Luckily it only takes a few minutes to make me feel OK again and then I go back to reading Grazia, or fall asleep in the chair.  It can be bit scary when you are short of breath but I know what's happening now so it doesn't bother me too much, I'm just determined to get to all of the drugs in and not have my chemo delayed.

I had so many needles and drugs that day I was high as a kite, 1 blood test, 2 canulas, antibiotics, piriton, ranitidine, steroids, avastin, paclitaxel, hydrocortisone, more steroids and more piriton. Nine hours at the hospital in total, my sister waited patiently through all of it armed with snacks and didn't mind me nodding off for hours in the chair.  

When I woke up on Friday morning I felt fine, so I went to Latitude.  Yipppeeee.