I woke up this morning after a disrupted night. When I am on Enzalutamide I get some of the side effects, but the worst one is hot flushes, which afflict me most at night or when I am fatigued. Last night was the first night after a five night break so I guess my body was going to respond like this. At the moment I am holding off the other major side effect of raised blood pressure by doing what training I can do. The rest are a bit more ambiguous, tiredness, risk of falls, bone thinning, restless legs ( a night affliction that when coupled with hot flushes is a real pisser), headaches, memory and concentration decrement, mood changes (inevitably low or depressed, these things never get you high), and skin changes. Add to these breast swelling, loss of sex drive and a metallic taste in the mouth then life can be a hurdle at times. I am fortunate in that it is the hot flushes, tiredness and the occasional headache that most effect me, that and the loss of concentration when I get fatigued, usually latter at night. Any way last night was one of those that combine side effects to give me a thin nights sleep. My partner brought me a decaf coffee, recommended to reduce the hot flushes and blood pressure effects.
Once I am up I am focussed on my days to do list, which is of course in my journal, another handy hint to avoid the memory side effects. I ring my GP surgery and get my 28 day jab appointment for the coming Monday. Normally I get in early but this time I am in at 3:50, which means my soreness and other responses to the injection will be pushed on a bit. With this done I head to the village chemist and collect my monthly regular drugs. I feels like a pill tsunami or pillpocalypse over the last couple of days. Onward to the village shop for a paper and malterzers before settling in at the village café. I am sitting there minding my own business eating my sausage and bacon rolls, sipping hot chocolate and doing the crosswords when an older couple come in with there young male child. This five or six year old starts saying to to his olds “look at that man”, and then “its Santa Claus, he’s got white hair”. For those that have not seen me for a while I now sport a long white pony tail down beyond the middle of my back. That’s what happens when you swear not to have your hair cut again after it falls out at your first lot of chemo. I play along I tell him I’m having a day of in the summer and that I’m letting the elves do the work today and as I leave I tell him not to tell anyone he has seem me as I will only be out and about again at Christmas time. He smiles and gives me a wave, his olds laugh.
Its sofa time as its the England women’s football team playing the Australians in the semi final of the world cup. Whoever wins goes onto play Spain in the final on Sunday. Its a reasonable game and to the mass chagrin of the Aussies they lose 3-1 to the English lionesses. A final to look forward to on Sunday, another excuse to eat maltezers. My partner goes off to see her mother and I clear the kitchen and get my training kit on. I really do not feel like it but I do and go to the garage for a row. I set myself up for another half hour session at my lower level. I am finding it difficult to resist the temptation to extend the time or put more effort in but I am determined to be controlled in this first week of training. I regard it as an exercise in discipline so I set out very deliberately to row at about 75% effort in as rhythmical way as possible, not changing pace or effort for the full half hour. I manage it and end up with a 5+ kilometre distance and 350+calorie burn. That will do nicely for today. It takes me to more than 136 PSI points on my fitness app but my fitness age does not reduce from 53, it was 42, but it will move if I am consistent.
Post session I relax, take my vitals, all good there and take a pee, all good there, no blood, and settle on the sofa to draft the blog. My partner returns home and we begin the slide into the evening. An evening where my partner has to prepare for an endoscopy tomorrow morning, so our day, or at least the morning is going to be spent at our local hospital.
