Firstly apologies for the formatting of these blogs, I tend to compose them on my phone whilst waiting for appointments, when cut and pasted the words wrap around at end of each line - I hope it still makes sense. Yesterday evening things caught up with me. The emotional, mental and physical experience saw me popping upstairs for 40 winks, which resulted in a much needed 3 hour power nap. Woke to the smell of sizzling steak which was dutifully devoured whilst watching a dour game of Eng v Germany football. Finally got the grade for my latest Masters Module (90% - so well chuffed with that, course now on hold until next March). Slept well last night but woke up feeling nauseous (first signs of RT side effects, perhaps?). Didn't fancy any breakfast so set off for southampton on an empty stomach. Not the best preparation to day 3 but hey-ho. Traffic horrendous at rush hour but arrived in good time to be met by my dietician, Claire. She reassured me that I will be 'well fed' during the next few weeks, unfortunately my planned crash diet will have to wait until after the RT otherwise my mask will slip (not good) if I lose too much weight from my face and neck area. Also told not to take any multivitamins "we are trying to destroy cells with RT and by giving them more vitamins defeats the object". Delay to treatment due to RT machine breaking first thing, but before I knew it Zapp 3 sitting was done and dusted, and with fresh supply of aspirin and paracetamol I headed home where I was met by a delicious chicken, ham and cheese omelette (dietitians orders to keep weight on - nom nom nom!). Have been following other peoples blogs on macmillan site which although make me worried about some of the potential long term effects of RT but also make me realise that in relative terms I am quite lucky to have a 'simple, local and curable cancer'. The support on the site from those who have gone through the RT experience is also very reassuring, so thanks.
