The Cortisol Diaries

Just a quick update, as there's not much to report. The week has gone quite smoothly. Still feeling a fair bit of fatigue but it's manageable and probably a little less than I was feeling a week ago. Dizziness is having less of an impact as well. I am having weekly blood tests to monitor mitotane level (the pill I take), as well as cortisol levels (which are still slightly high) and other hormones (all normal). Results take a week to get back so I've only had one result which was from day 8. Mitotane level was at 5.9, well below the 14 it needs to be at to be at the therapeutic level, but my oncologist said this is expected due to having only just started. Hopefully on Thursday the result from last week will be much higher. The idea is that it reaches 14 by the time I start the next cycle of chemo next Tuesday. I've been keeping myself pretty busy. I went to a gig Friday night, Lambeth County Fayre Saturday, Hampstead Heath outdoor lake on Monday and having a nice (ha...

Sunset view from my apartment ;) I realise I haven’t updated this page for a while, so here’s the run down on how things are going mid way through the first cycle. In summary, pretty well. I am extremely grateful to have had limited stomach issues and no nausea at all, which is a bit of a miracle considering the range of drugs I’ve had. I will put it down to having a much stronger stomach than previously thought, and the anti-sickness drugs being very effective. Since leaving hospital and the steroids wearing off, the main side effects I’ve had are fatigue, dizziness and general ‘brainfog’. The fatigue is a type I haven’t really experienced before – it’s both physical and mental. The physical side is best compared to a bad hangover, when you wake up and just have no energy to even do anything. It can come out of no where and just leave you feeling drained, and then lift again quite quickly. It’s resulting in a bit of daytime resting and just taking things easier through...

Days 1-3 of chemo went without issue with shortish days on Monday and Tuesday. I felt pretty good each day - walked home from the hospital and spent the evenings watching the football and eating well. They give you so many IV steroids and anti sickness drugs that you mostly feel fine during week 1. Wednesday and Thursday were longer days - about 6 hours of IV with all the additional fluids they give you, so I stayed overnight as an inpatient for ease. On Thursday I was a lot more lethargic and had a very full feeling in my whole body, which I put down to having 4 days if chemo and an insane amount of pills and fluids. When I was about to be discharged I mentioned my breathing was a bit more laboured and they decided to do a CT scan to check for blood clots. They found some fluid around my lungs which was 'unexpected' and decided to keep me in overnight to monitor it. Today my breathing seems better and I've just had a xray so currently waiting for the result to see the u...