Vicky Phelan stops chemo: ‘Quality of life is more important now than quantity of life’
This Are I'm Yet One Vicky Lives Nine My Just And Phelan: There Don't In Cat Ninth I On Think
Cancer campaigner Vicky Phelan has shared an update about her health for the first time in more than a month.
Ms Phelan, who last month shared the devastating news that she was returning home from the US to receive palliative chemotherapy, said she is feeling well today but had been “horrendously ill” for two weeks after her only dose of the treatment.
“The only way I can describe it is like hell. I had shooting pains all over my body, I was tired but I couldn’t sleep because of the steroids. When that eased off I was sleeping around the clock. It was just one thing after another for those 12 to 14 days,” she said in a video on Instagram.
Wearing a headscarf, she shared that her hair is gone and says she decided to stop having chemotherapy as she felt so unwell following it.
“I made the decision to stop chemotherapy after my first dose on October 18. I was horrendously ill for almost two full weeks and I decided that I have had enough of putting my body through torture,” she said.
“At this stage, my treatment is palliative anyway. There is nothing else that can be done medically. And so, I decided that, for me, quality of life is far more important to me now than quantity of life if the extra time that I might get means that I have to go through hell for two or three weeks every month.”
She is receiving Pembro and says she is “doing really well” and she is looking forward to spending Christmas with her family.
“I just decided I'm not doing this anymore. I'm just not putting my body through this anymore. This is my fourth line of treatment. And really, when you get to the fourth line of treatment, there's not much they can do at this stage. It's to treat my symptoms really and to try and keep my pain under control.
“[Pembro] might keep me stable for another couple of weeks and that's all I want. I just want another few weeks until Christmas to stay as stable as I am at the moment. I feel great at the moment.”
She said if she continued with chemotherapy, she would not be able to enjoy small moments with her children — such as shopping with her daughter or bringing her son to soccer.
“They're the things I want to be able to do between now and Christmas, to be able to go off and have lunch or have coffee with my kids, to be able to walk around the shops and not be banjaxed. For the moment, my target is Christmas. To be as well as I can be for Christmas. And after that I'm pretty happy to go at that point. Just to get Christmas."
She also thanked all the well-wishers who have been in touch and sent cards since her return home.
“Finally, a huge big thank you to all of you, my followers, my tribe, for thinking of me, for praying for me, for sending positive energy my way and for worrying about me. I really really appreciate all your messages, comments, cards, gifts, flowers.”
Ms Phelan said she will share another update from her treatment room, adding that her medical care has moved from Dublin to Limerick, and said she’s not finished fighting yet.
“I just wanted to put an update for everybody to let you know and so you can see I look quite well and I'm doing okay.