A fairly regular part of my chemo regime is intrathecal methotrexate - this is administered via lumbar puncture directly into the spinal fluid intended to protect me from the leukaemia crossing the blood/brain barrier. Before they put the chemo in they take out 6 or 7 drops of spinal fluid to test for the presence of 'bad' cells.
Intrathecals can be painful, especially if the needle catches a nerve, which has happened a couple of times (to be fair, the doctor is acting on feel alone). The last intrathecal I had was a bit of a nightmare. One doctor had 5 attempts at getting the needle in and kept hitting the bone and so called a colleague to get the needle in (first time). My back is still sore from that and that was the end of October.
So I was not really looking forward to today's intrathecal. But it was painfree! Gold star to the doctor who did it. The site is a bit sore now the local anaesthetic has worn off, but that will soon wear off.
Yesterday I saw the consultant - still pleased with my progress - and started Consolidation 1. This is 5 days of chemo and an intrathecal starting yesterday and running to Sunday. So far no ill effects other than the usual 'sandbagged' feeling that the Cytarabin gives me - I slept for 40 minutes on the ward yesterday which they were giving me the other drug. I just couldn't keep my eyes open!
In other news, we have sadly now taken down and packed away all the Christmas decorations, lights etc. I hate doing this, but I also look forward to seeing all these favourite things again at the other end of the year.
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