Wednesday 21 December 2011

Head in the oven

Different people get different mileage with their drugs.

Me? I have zero tolerance it seems. If I stand near cigarette smoke I'm ill. If I drink the smallest amount - I'm ill. If I take medication ...

My Soiree in to chemical treatment has not faired well. Cabergoline wiped me out and now I find that Quinagolide does the same.

The recommendation with Quinagolide is to take it just before bed with food. Why just before bed? Because, for me at least, 30 minutes to 1hr later and I'm a zombie. Trust me, I would not be safe behind the wheel of a car immediately after taking this drug. When I sleep - it's like I'm a dead man. My wife tried to rouse me the other night and, apparently, I would not wake up no matter how loud she shouted or how hard she poked me in the ribs. This isn't great considering that I'm on call one week in three.

*ring ring .. ring ring*

Telephone: "Hello - we have a problem with a virtualisation platform that appears to have become isolated and gone split brain - we need you to instigate the disaster recovery plan"

Me: "ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz"

What compounds the problem is that I struggle to wake up and I'm not capable of engaging my brain around technical issues before lunchtime. It's like living in a fog. With a career that demands the best out of me at all times - knowing the schedule of work that I have lined up for 2012 - and with a wife / kids to feed, mortgage & bills to pay - I cannot continue with Quinagolide.

I'm only on 75 micrograms .. still about a third of the expected dose. When I speak to the consultant in the new year I'm going to be straight with him. The likely outcome is that I'll be having radiation therapy followed by an operation. They've already booked an appointment to explain the procedure - so they must have expected this outcome.

I have an MRI scan booked at the start of the new year and a review the week after. I suspect that the prolactin has escaped again. Damn this prolactinoma.



No comments:

Post a Comment