A mixed week

Well week two on Docetaxel has been better than week one (not hard!) but not great.  Still feeling exhausted doing the smallest thing, like walking to School and back.  No fainting though, and facial nerve pain is definitely under control.  New exciting side effects are purple big toenails that feel like they have been crushed by a horse, swelling up like a balloon and major weight gain (8lb in a week and a half!). Face swelling started last weekend and that along with bleeding under the skin on my neck resulted in a hospital visit on Wed to be assessed.  The main mystery is not the swelling, that's a common chemo side effect, but the swelling was more obvious on my left side and the bleeding was on my left side, the same side as my eye/ ear/ face pain.  So I've been  referred for an MRI just to check nothing major going on, but an 'urgent' MRI on the NHS could be weeks!   I'm pretty convinced its all just nasty chemo effects though.

I was just well enough by Friday to return to Tiny Talk - my wonderful Bransgore Toddler class, all Mums and babies I've known for a while so it was lovely, but still exhausting!  Not sure how I'm going to do four classes on Monday and Tuesday, might need to spend Wednesday in bed!  It will be worth it though to get back to routine and normality briefly before my next hit on Friday.

I may still be feeling the effects of chemo but I felt well enough to travel to Plymouth yesterday so we could spend the weekend on the boat.  The children are very excited to be here (with their new sleeping bags from Father Christmas.....love it that they are young enough to think this is a great present!) and it's a beautiful sunny day today, we went out for lunch (Abi had mussels, she's a sophisticated sailor!) and then pootled about in the harbour for a while.  Adrian is currently cooking our dinner on the boat....pasta, sweetcorn, tomato pasta sauce with smoked sausage pieces....not as sophisticated as lunch!!