captains blog stardate chemo +8days

that light at the end of the tunnel is a train....

2011-12-02T23:06:32Z

hi chaps

well as my status says good n bad news, went in today for my results and muggins that i am, i listened to the blather, love that word BLATHER, about how things were on the books for an operation. What books they been reading god only knows, but i bet they had washable, chewable and suitable for 2-5yr olds on.........sorry feeling bitter.

Any road up, in waltzes the doc lovely bloke, askes the general questions how are you, any problems ( yes i'm sitting here with poxy cancer but other than that fine). hows your eating, any probs. ( no eat anything you put in front of me, even do a bushtucker trial if i'm hungry).

Then the bomb shell, good news the tumor has shrunk significantly, the scan shows this as clear as day. (whoopee doo) but we can't offer an operation,( ok some bugger just popped my ballon, and they better have a good excuse) the scan also shows that some of the lymph nodes have NOT shrunk, and this leads us to a problem, if we operate and don't remove all the cancer cells the chances are it will come back in an advanced agressive state, it would take you nearly a year to recover from this surgery as it is very intrusive and we think you would be lucky to last 6 months.( ok wot i hear is odds on favourite not to see xmas 2012 bah humbug.) So we think ( he continued) another 4 cycles of chemo then restage again, you never know your responding well there is still a small chance of an op. after that. ( look out the window and wonder how to catch that flying pig)

So my friends it just proves i'm that lucky i could fall into a barrell of boobs and come out sucking my thumb........sorry rant over, just had my wonderfull wife there and she hoped that an operation with a cure was on the books ( same one ) so she was upset, i'm more annoyed at the thought of sitting around with the chemo yukkies again. so i decided to with hold my chemo till after the new year, let my bod heal and enjoy xmas with my family, (possibly not the best idea i've had cos the grand kids are doing my head in about stopping this weekend..love it really) the doc agreed with me just the chemo nurse to talk to on mon, as long as she agrees i'm hoping for a illness free xmas.

Then to round off a absolutly fantastic blooming day, newcastle on fri afternoon is pants, so we decided to go xmas shopping at the metro centre.....whos crazy now, didn't get home til half ten tonight, but retail therapy and costa coffee and an early xmas pressie off my beloved saved the day.

as always stay happy,positive and love those around you. joe xx

one step at a time will get you to your destination...

2011-11-24T13:35:26Z

hi folks,

OMG success at logging in, now wot to say. First just to update on manuka honey.... after a long conversation with the head staff nurse in charge of my chemo the subject of manuka honey came up.I had been taken it after reading, like alot of ther people , the benifits to the immune system. As it turns out there has been various tests done on this and the results have shown that certain types of pollen collected and used in manuka honey has a detrimental effect on types of chemo( MUST STRESS NOT ALL CHEMO ).I was asked to bring in the jar and the lab would check, this was a jar of +10 manuka honey from aldi, it didn't list all the infomation so i was advised against it. The advice i was given at newcastle's cancer research centre is to ask or take a jar in for the hospital to asses, like i said i must stress not all chemo is affected, as not all manuka honey comes from the same region.

Well after a terrible chemo cycle, i've had my 4th course and now waiting (thats wot we do WAIT) for my restaging on the 1st of dec, guess wots on my santa's list. the oncologist is mildy optumistic things look good as i'm eating normal food ( even had a pizza as a treat ) no weight loss or pain and feel alot more happier in myself. So fingers toes crossed.

on a sad note, a very close friend has just found out his father has terminal lung cancer, he lost his mother to this on the 10/10/ 07. his dad was diagnosed on 10/10/11. poxy cancer. told him to check out macworld for support.

as always stay happy positive and love those around you, joe xx

My personal thanks to andrex....

2011-10-24T09:11:43Z

hi folks,

yes i'm still here, but been under the weather for the last 11 days.

had my 3rd chemo cycle on the 13th, ( never thought of that date till now) and rapidly went down hill that fast could have set the world record. don't know wot went on but felt very anxious at the start of the injections, and after fell asleep in the cafe waiting for my lift to come. Got home and went to sleep straight away. Friday n sat started to lose my appertite and very listless, had this before so not to worried, sun woke up and wasn't able to stand on my feet (like broken glass) this wasn't good as i was constantly going to the toilet with stomach cramps, and my hands were red and cracked.

So rushed back to hospital, sat for 4 hrs just to be told " these are common side effects mr.h, don't be concerned. keep taking the tablets drink plenty of fluids and take 2 immodium when req but no more than 8 aday". so off i toddled buttocks clenched.

I was at the toilet 22 times on sun night, rang the specialist nurse mon, told to stop the chemo and immodium let my body heal up abit. mmmmm thing its gonna need more than that but hey ho. never slept for more than 1-2 hrs before been called by gods megaphone, so back into hos to see the consultant.

explained that in that week i hadn't been out of bed except to the toilet, not eating more than a bowl of cereal twice a day(thank god for rice crispies) and strained that much that i was passing blood. to which i was told " chemo can give you diarreaha, we need a sample" good luck mate aint passed one for 8 days just yucky water, " ok just try joe, this should settle down in the next week" that was on thurs, now mon feel better in my self but still got the stomach probs.

in effect i've never seen the tv, computer or life in general for well over a week, lost over a stone in weight and still not eating but these things are sent to try us. waiting for the hosp to decide when to restart the chemo. hopefully they will wait till this has passed completely.

as always, stay happy positive and love those around you. big hugs joe

think the circus is here....could explain the clowns.

2011-10-10T11:34:13Z

hi folks,

mmmmmmmmm this new site takes some getting used to.

haven't been on for a while, not had a great deal to tell you about. had my 2nd chemo with a super duper injection quaranteed to stop the sickness for 5 days, the nhs was robbed only lasted 2.5 days wonder if they can claim a refund.

You know how they say bad news comes in 3's, i don't hink they can count. just been notified that my nat. ins num has been wrong, this happened 5 yrs ago and no record of me paying into my pension fund. So rang them up tried to explain that i've never been out of work in the last 18 yrs and was told to contact all my former empolyers to get written conformation of my details. So i'm doing your job now i replied, "well according to our records mr.h your on sick leave so you probably have the time to do this". (CLOWN no.1). So i've called most of them, been offered jobs galore then had the OMG sorry to hear that blah blah blah comments, great fun.

Then my sick note ran out and low and behold, got to start all the crap about insurances again, send this do that photocopy this. OOOHHHH i'll send you a photocopy that you can hang in your office, needless to say my better half took over before i got into to much trouble.now they only send txts to say they are assessing my claim....the fact they processed this in july is not important. CLOWN no2.

next tried to have a normal day out with the grandkids, took them to a large park near newcastle, had a great day out plenty of sunshine fresh air etc. On our way home, big smile you've been caught on camera doing 33 in the 30mph zone. Ok now for the record i've been a hgv driver for 21yrs, i have more than 12 different qualifacations including advanced driving, specialist insurance courses, and safety and fuel efficientcy courses (some run by the police) all passed with honours, and a clean license for over 20yrs. So i was offered a driver awareness course instead of the points, only it ran on the day i had my chemo. This was not a problem i could go in the next day, so i explained that for about a week after the injections, i wasn't capable of sitting in a classroom having a lecture. Guess what they wern't interested so i've got 3 points, but atleast i don't have to sit while some non person tries to teach me to suck eggs. CLOWN no3.

I then had to notify my car insurance, and when they asked why i refused the driving course, i explained again about my chemo, only to be told that they would have to reassess my insurance due to having a critical illness. This led to a rather volatile exchange of words (i won't go into) and it looks like i'll need a new company next year. CLOWN no4.

So all i can say is this...lets load up the custard pie gun because there is more than a few clowns out there.

Rant over, glad to read (when i found them) that my macfriends are still out there, full of wisdom and craziness. Now i've sorted out how to get on here hopefully i'll be able to catch up with you all. as always stay happy positive and love your family and friends around you. joe xx

strange days.

2011-09-10T20:09:50Z

hi folks,

I honestly haven't got a clue what i'm going on about in this one, so bare with me. well i had my chemo 8 days ago, the first 4 days i've decided to bury in the deepest darkest pit of my mind,never to be opened (yes it was that bad).

So 2 intravenous injections followed by 21days of tablets,(to be repeated nonstop til feb 2012), and this is the strange part.

DAY 2- no pain at all, now considering that you could set the speaking clock to within 10 seconds of me needing pain relief, is this normal.just to emphasise every 4and a half hrs i took 2x 500mg paracetamol and 2x 50mg tramadol. with in 24 hrs didn't take or need anything.

DAY 3-4, still no pain, eating poor soft sloopy food only. sense of smell gone to the extreme, house hold smells infact everything to do with cooking making me sick.

DAY 5, OK wots going on, got up this morning felling more like myself than ever, yes i'm tired yes having a nap in the afternoon, but asked for and ate a beef hotpot, chunks and all, mmmmmmm

DAYS 6,7,8. right weird meter off the scale. I am now eating things that gave me trouble before i was diagnosed. Nothing getting stuck going past horace (say hello to my little friend), still tired but walked my dogs for nearly 45mins on day 7 (non stop). i've put on 3lbs in weight ( good job bev loves beefcakes)(can't believe i've just called myself a beef cake) and sat and had proper fish n chips from tadaaa a proper chippy. whoop de do.

Now i'm still on tablets 2600mg aday, sense of smell still weird, even taking to lighting scented candles (think these tablets are hormonell ha ha). can't sleep very well, but just go down stairs and annoy the dogs, hey if i'm up they should be up.infact in everyway a vast improvement.

So over to you my mac friends, has anyone heard of this happening so quick, or is it a high before the fall. Got to ring the docs on mon, to see about something to make me sleep, sorry don't drink so thats no use. if this keeps going i'll be as happy as a sand boy ( ok whats a sand boy and why is he so happy, damm my grandfather and his sayings ).

as always stay happy,positive and love those around you, joe xx.

P.S heard this yesterday made me laugh..." All that is between an idiot at the seaside and a fisherman, is a fine line " yes i enjoy fishing so doubly significant. jx