London to the Sea on a Brompton, 2 days 1 camp, *Feel Free!* Forget Cancer! Chemo2 Thames Kent Coast скачать в хорошем качестве

London to the Sea on a Brompton, 2 days 1 camp, *Feel Free!* Forget Cancer! Chemo2 Thames Kent Coast

In early September, I decided to do a Brompton bikepacking trip, from home in London, to the sea, camping one night along the way. I did this ride after my second round of chemo. "Cycling therapy" feels like it does me so much good, so I'm aiming to go on a Brompton bikepacking adventure after each round of chemotherapy, if I can. Recently I’ve been doing quite a few trips "upstream", along tributaries of the Thames. This time, I rode downstream, watching the Thames get bigger and bigger, until I reached the sea. Most of the terrain was new to me, as I had never crossed over the border from London into Kent. It's quite a complicated coastline, marshes and clay and mud and salt flats and islands, and then white cliffs at the end. To make it simple, I just took a straight line, to see what I found along the way. As you can see, I am bald! Never mind! I loved this ride. Felt so free! Hope you enjoy the film! About the chemotherapy side effects I'm dealing with at the moment - for anyone who might be interested or find it helpful: I am on TC Chemotherapy (Docetaxel and Cyclophosphamide). I have a treatment once every 3 weeks. Different people have different side effects. These are the side effects I'm having, and what I'm trying to do about them. Your tips welcome! 1 Exhaustion - I am super tired in the first week after the treatment. Nothing I can do, just sleep and rest and be feeble. I do micro walks, then gradually do more eg small bike rides. If I do too much too soon, it sets me back. Gradually the tiredness wears off. 2 Nausea - the steroids and anti sickness pills they give me largely work for me, thank goodness, plus when I do feel sick, I find it helps to go outside in fresh air. And after a few days I am OK again. 3 Hand and foot neuropathy - I am really scared of this. Basically, the chemo can damage the nerves, so that you can't feel things with your fingers any more and feet go numb, and you get pins & needles and pain, as well as loss of balance and weakness. To try and ward it off, during treatment itself I use ice socks on my feet and hold ice packs in my hands (not sure this really works but trying anyway). And then I do physio just at home 40 mins for hands and feet each day, basically just stretching and strength exercises, plus massage with moisturiser 5 mins each hand and foot every day ie total 20 mins, which was recommended by the chemo ward sister, to "remind the nerves to keep on doing their job". So far I am doing OK and my hands and feet have not gone numb yet touch wood haha. 4 Painful skin on hands, due to the skin going thin - this is kind of the opposite of the numbness. I am finding that it hurts to do things like open bottle tops, fasten buttons etc, and when I touch anything warm eg even toast, it feels painfully hot. I use gloves and just try to manage. After a while the skin goes hard and some of it sort of peels off. 5 Hair falls out. Ah well. Never mind. 6 Skin really sensitive to sun - I use Factor 50 suncream as the hosp recommended. Trying to be good about it. 7 Sores and ulcers in my mouth - I gargle with salt water after every meal, as recommended by the chemo ward sister. Kind of a weird thing to do but it has worked well so far 8 Low immunity - this one is really serious. Basically I keep away from people, and don’t go inside places. I pretty much don’t go anywhere! The only public transport I have been on is the trains I use for Brompton cycle camping trips. I always carry a card the hospital gave me, that warns I am at risk of neutropenic sepsis. For cuts and bites etc when I am out camping I take a lot of care and have antiseptic spray with me, and plasters to cover any cuts etc immediately. 9 Eye infections - I have had repeated conjunctivitis and blepharitis (infected eyelids). My eyes water the whole time. Trying to manage it with eye drops and "lid massage" per advice from Moorfields Eye Hospital but not doing very well. 10 Water tastes horrible for about a week after each treatment so I drink milk and orange juice. Coffee and tea taste horrible too for about 10 days. So sad about that! I just have to wait till it gets better. 11 Tongue goes yellow and furry and mouth tastes yuck and feels slimy. Don't know if there is any solution to this. It gets better after about a week. So these are the side effects I'm having, and what I am doing about them. Everyone is different, but I jotted this down, in case anyone who is also grappling with chemo finds any of it helpful. Best wishes! See you soon! MUSIC WILDFLOWERS featuring Jason Dering "Here I Go" VICTOR LUNDBERG "In Bloom" LAS LUNAS featuring Frigga "Know Me"