I am, I guess, in quarantine for ten days or so: thank goodness for e-readers and the Internet.
So far, I think I've been fortunate. I had the docetaxel/cisplatin drips on Thursday - start of the first cycle - and have had no nausea, only hiccups (fixed by a glass of cold milk) and a spot of trapped wind indigestion (fixed with camomile tea).
I was a bit tired for a couple of days, then hit the nastiest part:…
Swanney: Would sir care for a starter? Some garlic bread perhaps?
Renton: No, thank you. I'll proceed directly to the intravenous injection of hard drugs, please.
I couldn't help thinking of this scene from Trainspotting today; it's been a veritable banquet of intravenous drugs, the main courses being - since they still don't know the primary site - a general-purpose double whammy of docetaxel and cisplatin.…
I'm sure this is a universal experience, but people's reactions to hearing of my illness have been highly varied, some predictable, and some surprising (though not always in a good way).
I'm an atheist, but a number of people I know to be religious are praying for me: in the conventional Christian way; by being "held in the light" - a very nice concept - by a Quaker; and by being sent remote reiki by a New Age…
Today I had an ENT appointment - they're still looking for a primary tumour, and had a glance at my throat with a trans-nasal endoscope (tickly and eye-watering, but painless - nothing like that "Euarrrgh!" moment when Arnold Schwarzenegger puts the probe in his nose in Total Recall). They also did a biopsy of a salivary gland (a "sharp scratch", as they always put it, but more unnerving than painful).…
As further tests revealed the prognosis to be more serious, I revised my original plan not to tell my parents about my illness for now, and Irene and I went for a flying visit to see them.
As they live on a European island, it was a pretty lengthy trip by train, bus, two ferries, bus, walk - a day to get there, a day there, a day back - but I can’t imagine why I thought it was anything but the right thing to do. Quite…
