One of the cruelest side effects of chemotherapy is hair loss. Your hair is a truly personal thing, part of your identity, so whilst it doesn’t physically hurt to lose it, mentally it can.
I was warned straight away that I would probably lose my hair, not a shock, it’s something that most people associate with cancer, and initially it seemed the least of my problems.
The Marsden funds a free wig for inpatients…
After 3 years of chemotherapy I finally made it to the end of treatment. It was time to celebrate, to crack on with the ‘new normal’ of life, I was finished and I was alive!
Well that’s the theory. The reality, for me, turned out to be somewhat different. So I did party, a perfectly timed joint 50th with my husband was an absolute blast. A week later I was being carted off in an ambulance after ‘fainting’…
Today marks 979 days since I was diagnosed with leukaemia, a word I still rely on spellchecker to get right for me! In 121 days I will take what I hope will be my last chemo tablets, the end of treatment is nigh.
Why then am I not feeling as excited as everyone else? Well I do still have 2 rounds of ‘quarterly nasties’ to get through. Later this morning I will have an IV of chemo, AKA poison, and start 5 days of steroids…
Next week sees the 2nd anniversary of my diagnosis, an appropriate, if long overdue, moment to celebrate life and the friendships that have been vital in getting me well and back living life.
Diagnosed a week after Donald Trump shocked the world by being elected as President of the United States, it quickly became apparent that, for many, my leukaemia diagnosis came as even more shocking news.
My husband and I had a sense…
Since I was diagnosed with leukaemia so many people have told me that I’m ‘really brave’, and whilst I’m touched by their comments, I always dismiss them, I don’t see myself that way. But I wonder if I’m right to be dismissive.
A few weeks before diagnosis I started some online CBT, I was mentally struggling with a long term back problem. I explained how I wasn’t coping with the situation, and questioned how…
