December 14, 2016
The best way to describe the past month is an up hill slog. Its been a case of head down, blinkers on and just focusing on getting through each day. Luckily things have improved slightly as Im not sure how long I could have carried that on. I couldn’t have started the last round of chemo soon enough! The pain leading up to starting the chemo was overwhelming and I was so weak I struggled to hold my head up sometimes. Which meant travelling up to UCLH in central London was a challenge. However I am so much happier with my care being at UCLH rather than at Southampton. My new oncologist wanted a baseline scan before I started this newest course of chemo. It revealed that the cancer had grown a bit more since my last scan just 2 weeks before. This was not a surprise because I could feel it growing in me. It was a nasty combination of intense pain, increasing pressure and nausea all building up in my abdomen. Not a nice feeling to live with and it had me bent over for days before I got on top of it with medication. The oncologist said their was also a new bit jutting off my liver and this could be what was causing a really intense stabbing pain under my bottom right rib. Unfortunately thats put a stop to lying on my front and any deep breathing. In fact laughing, coughing, yawning, deep breathing and hiccuping are all no no’s if I want to avoid a stabbing pain in my side.Continue Reading
November 22, 2016
First things first I just want to thank everyone for the kind messages of support. Its very humbling and heartwarming to know I have the support of so many people. It would be mean to not update you after my last post. My folks and I visited UCLH yesterday and left feeling better about this situation than we did before. Firstly its a great hospital and the Macmillan Cancer Centre is very clean, modern and calming. Everything a hospital should be. It also provides care just for cancer patients, so its quiet. We checked into a hotel the night before and met a few mates for dinner. I then spent the evening looking up at tall buildings and shiny stuff. Annoyingly I had no appetite and felt restless so walking around was a welcome distraction. I always look forward to all the different foodie places when visiting usually.Continue Reading
September 30, 2016
There isn’t much to update you on but its been exactly a year since I had my shoulder replaced to remove the primary tumour and its also cancer awareness month so I thought it would be a poignant time to write something. I was suppose to have another 5 day course of chemo this week but my blood cell counts have not recovered enough from the last round, so its been delayed a week. Two steps forwards and one step back…Not the end of the world but I cant help be a little annoyed with this because I want to crack on and keep hammering the cancer, however on the plus side I’ve felt good for another week. Continue Reading
September 2, 2016
Its been a while since my last post as I have been keeping busy, and I’ve also had an eventful couple of weeks….I think I start every post off with that line. I didn’t want to post anything until I had my results which I got yesterday. It definitely was not the news I wanted. The tumours on my lungs, liver and pancreas have started to grow again. I didn’t know what to say. I was so angry about it after all I have been doing and everything has been looking up. However I’m used to this by now and got over it pretty fast. Its just a minor set back. There is no point holding onto negative emotions, that won’t help, so onwards and upwards. Im starting a new course of chemo on Monday which will hopefully get rid of these little fuckers. The Dr told me it should be similar to the last type of chemo, which I tolerated pretty well. Fingers crossed my hair sticks around. Although its a lot thinner than before, it still makes such a difference having hair. The plan is still to have a check up scan after 2 rounds of chemo and keep going until its gone or we need to change the plan of attack. The two drugs I will be having are Topotecan and Cyclophosphamide and they will be administered daily for 5 days, with 2 weeks recovery in between.
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July 21, 2016
I’ve been quiet on the blog front recently as there hasn’t been much to report on. I have a few health and fitness related posts I’ve started but they are waiting to be finished on a rainy day. Make hay while the sun is shining and all that. I am currently on a chemo week and I have one more course planed in 3 weeks. This consists of taking 6 tablets every morning and a short IV drip later in the day for 5 days. Ive been handling it really well but I still feel a bit groggy as it has an accumulated effect, and its been a tough slog this last 18 months. After the next round I have another scan and a decision is made on what direction to take. This is really frustrating and tough to live with. I keep moving forwards and try not to think about the future and just focus more on the present. Easier said than done of course. Continue Reading
March 25, 2016
It’s been a while since my last post and I want to keep those that are interested up to speed. I’m due to start my 3rd cycle of chemo next week and I’m currently feeling really good, although there have been some dark days. One of the things about my situation is the majority of people only see me when I am well enough to venture out the house so people only see the good days. The chemo I am on at the moment is a mixture of 2 drugs. I take Temozolomide tablets in the morning and then a drip called Irinotecan later in the day, which only takes half an hour if they get their shit together at the hospital. And that’s each day for 5 days. A few times I have waited all day in the hospital chair but I won’t bore you with those exciting stories.Continue Reading
December 6, 2015
After 11 months (14 rounds) of chemotherapy, about 60 days spent in hospital, 6 weeks of radiotherapy, approximately 5800 miles driven to hospitals, 3 months of antibiotics and anti-sickness drugs, 47 Hickman line flushes, a major operation, 4 blood transfusions, 20 blood samples, countless injections, scans and horrific side effects it’s all finally over. It’s been the hardest year of my life by a long shot and a real test of character to say the least. I’m not one to wish away time but 2015 can fuck off. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger is a bit of a cliché, but couldn’t be more correct in this case.Continue Reading
November 15, 2015
This will take a lot less time to talk about as I’ve covered most of it in my previous posts about VIDE. I will include the chemo process and all the side effects in one post, which we are both happy about! As I have previosuly mentioned, after the 4.5 months of the horrible VIDE chemo I started 6 weeks of radiotherapy alongside 6 months, or 8 rounds of VAC chemo (Vincristine, Actinomycin D, Cyclophosphamide). This was termed the ‘maintenance’ chemo and it would be clearing up any little nasties floating around inside me.Continue Reading
October 31, 2015
There are so many unpleasant side effects that I have given them their own post. Absolutely nothing was fun about them but we heal and I can now look back at them with some humour as I don’t want to put you guys through another depressing post! But at the same time I want to be informative as it might help someone. Every individual is different and gets affected in different ways so it’s very personal. The side effects would always peak together when I was at my weakest 7-12 days after chemo. The week after chemo is like having the worst hangover in the world that never ends, with that depressing come down constantly but no good memories from the night before to go with it, and the thought of cancer on your mind. It’s no party. The week after that is the ‘low week’ where blood cells are reduced and then you start to recover overnight just in time for more chemo, hooray!Continue Reading
