The severity with which one goes up and down is striking. You seem to make good progress and then wham! suddenly you slip right back down and are struggling again. Last week, which was the 4th post-treatment week, was a case in point. I had my first drink in a cafe for well over six weeks. It was only sparkling water but hey, I could drink it! I even went to the beach and paddled with the kids in the sea. But then it…
Today I had my first review after being transferred from the specialist cancer hospital at Felindre to the University Hospital of Wales, generally known as the "Heath". A typical large, rather clapped-out looking British research hospital.
Things have improved physically for me over the last week, following a very rough fortnight after completing treatment. But I confess to feeling utterly exhausted. I also…
It is now two weeks since I completed my six week course of radio and chemotherapy and I want to say that I am starting to feel better or, at very least, that I have stopped feeling worse. Yet something holds me back from saying this. It sounds very irrational but it is akin to a fear of "jinxing" myself.
One of the best books on cancer I have read so far is Anticancer: a new way of life, by Dr David Servan-Schreiber…
Sorry to everyone to whom I have failed to reply or respond recently. It sounds counter-intuitive, initially, but the side effects continue to get worse after treatment stops - in my case exactly one week ago - and I just have not been able to reply to anyone about anything. The nature of the treatment especially radiotherapy, is such that it continues to roll on inside you even after the input has stopped. Think radiation…
So, the six weeks of chemotherapy and daily radiotherapy was completed yesterday! It did not quite all go according to plan though. The second dose of chemo was delayed for a week due to a low white blood cell count and my naively optimistic attempt to get through it all without a feeding tube did not quite work out. In fact I was admitted to hospital last Tuesday because I just could not keep any fluid or nutrition in…
