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Today was the appointment with the consultant just shy of 12 months (by a week or two) since I finished my chemoradiotherapy regime. Inevitably a degree of apprehension (slight), although I would not really talk that up particularly. In many respects it was a case of just getting on with it and dealing with whatever he told me.
The ultrasound scan was 10 days ago and as I had received no call to say, "Umm, can you come in a bit earlier please?" I worked on the basis that no news was good news....
I have appreciated the comments on the last post. Reassuring to know that others have similar tales.
Yesterday was chemo day and the lovely staff are always keen to check I am emptying out - to the point of adding to my obsession.
The routine is tricky. Unplug the pump, wheel it carefully way across the room to the loo carefully avoiding the randomly placed desk chairs, trollies and bins as well as trying not to rip the cannula from your arm. The worst is finding it’s already occupied. What if they...
Got my final Endoscopy today which will tell me if I have enough healthy Oesophagus left to enable my surgeon to agree to operate. I think they call it the 'Ivor Lewis' operation. It's no understatement to say that I'm terrified because I am already in a lot of pain when I try to swallow, so I've no idea how they are going to get their instruments down my throat.
I am so grateful to this site for giving me a way to release my emotions, without burdening my family.
What could be more stressful than actually undergoing treatment? The journey there that’s what. Who’d have guessed?
The actual getting there is taking it’s toll.
The hospital in reality is only 45 minutes away and we are told to allow 20 minutes from the outskirts of the city to the hospital.
I have to factor into this enough time to drink 3 cups of water half an hour before I am due for radiotherapy. If we are a little behind schedule I drink water in the car prior to arrival....
So 6 cycles of Folfox later......
And the chemo has done nothing , the tumors have grown in my liver but no new ones found apart from .. they are looking at a suspect object in my spine. that wasn't in previous scans
I am devastated as apart from the chemo I feel so well and the pain I had in my side had subsided. My oncologist was floored as he also was sure that there had been a response. I have no back pain and plenty of energy - also my liver and other organs are operating normally - it...
Its been over 6 months now since we lost mum, I've not posted for ages, but today is mum's birthday. I took some flowers to the cemetery yesterday, and shed a few tears. I'm still numb, think about mom every day, though just trying to get on with things as best I can. I still feel wierd around 7pm, that was the time I used to ring her. Miss her so much. I've got so much I could tell her, mainly about the boys. My eldest now has a part time job, a girlfriend, has had a brush with the law...
The last two months have been so chaotic that I have had to remind myself that the reason for all this mess in my life is because I’m fighting for my life. This isn’t just a quick stop in hospital and it will all go away illness... if only!!
Getting to the point of being able to have my SCT in October was a challenge I quite happily took on and when I finally heard the words were going ahead with it, I felt like finally I could move on, breathe a little bit better. Yes I went into panic...
Had my monthly chemo oncologist appointment today and it was the worse news I have had for 6 months
My white blood cell count dropped and is just above the abnormal range at 1.66 but I can still go on chemo next week but it looks like I will have to give it 30 days in between cycles rather than 23.
Platelets were fine so just need to keep fighting and have lots of rest
Last night I was kept awake ....something made me laugh for longer than I have in ages and it didn’t involve my story.
We were settling to sleep when lovely husband says ‘There’s something weird on my lower back, feels like a scab or something’
After much shuffling around he decided to get up and nip to check it out in the bathroom mirror.
I was almost asleep when the bedroom light went on and an anxious voice said ‘ Can you look, I really don’t know what it is and if I scratch...
I have to have ECX chemo with three cycles. The first cycle was tough - much harder than I expected. The first two days were ok then three days when all I could do was lie in bed and wait for it to pass. Nausea was bearable thanks to the meds. Eating little and often helped and eating Rich Tea biscuits and Polo mints! The CNS was great and advised me to stop the Capecitabine for a couple of days to let my body recover
After a week I started to feel better and was able to have a walk every day.
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