Blogging can be a great way to journal your experiences and share with others. Why not create your own cancer journey blog, or have a read of other blogs created by our members?
Unsure how to get started? Take a look at our help pages on blogs.
Radiotherapy finished New Years Eve as planned, in the first few weeks of January other than an increase in swelling (which felt like my head was rather full, similar to suffering with a bad bout of hay fever) generally coped ok with the end of the treatment. Did also require an afternoon nap most days to get through to the evening though.
Signed up to and was accepted onto an Immunotherapy trial and had my first dose start of January. Unlike the chemotherapy this was done intravenously and required...
In the 3rd week of radiotherapy I come down with a cold which made it a tough week to endure and then in the 4th week most of my hair fell out literally in one wash. I expected it to slowly come out and thin but wasn’t quite expecting how rapidly I went from a full head of hair to friar tuck look! Shaved the rest of my head (which apparently, I wasn’t meant to do as it can affect the fitting of the radiotherapy mask – luckily my hair was very short when I had the mask fitted so it didn’t affect the...
Start of November I had a follow up scan and it showed very little growth since the surgery. My scar had healed well and I was fine to begin a 5 days a week, 6-week course of intensive radio/chemotherapy. 1st week was scheduled in the middle of November which would take me up to New Years Eve. Due to my age and health I would be getting the highest and longest course available.
Went into Guy’s Hospital to have my Radiotherapy mask fitted, which was a unique experience but again one of those situations...
As the dust starts to settle after the lockdown announcement, we all begin to face the reality of a few weeks, maybe even months, at home.
Everybody’s situation is different, the challenges of living alone are very different to those of large families suddenly locked down together. One thing that's undeniable though is that those affected by cancer are certainly impacted more than most by the coronavirus.
It’s important now more than ever that we pull together as a Community. The not so...
The MRI scan revealed that the tumour had increased 4-fold since the previous scan in August and that it was highly likely to be a GBM4 malignant cancer and that the prognosis for this type of cancer was an average 12-14 months. We were absolutely devastated and shocked, neither I or my partner were ready in any way to hear that news and it caught us completely off-guard.
At this point we went into panic mode, we had 10 days before the date of the surgery and the realisation that we had nothing in...
We were still in shock having left the hospital with very little information to go on but after googling the various brain tumour types and treatments, a low-grade glioma didn’t seem like the worst possible diagnosis, the average survival duration seemed to be in the 10+ years, which while not great wasn’t terrible, all things considered. It was likely to require surgery to treat which seemed quite daunting, but the location seemed to the biggest issue, being in an eloquent area indicated that it...
36yr old male, partner and 2 young daughters, working in the City as a Finance Director.
Symptoms began in the middle of August, I was at work and experienced a twitch in my right hand while using a mouse that lasted for about 60 seconds. I had previously suffered a shoulder injury several years ago and put it down to that it was playing up and it must be a pinched nerve.
A week later while walking home I had another twitch in the hand but this time it was followed by my right leg also going numb...
Many of us are forced into learning to adapt when there's a cancer diagnosis.
How do you deal with change?
In the current pandemic, many of us are experiencing disruption to our normal lives. Whether it’s having the kids at home or things missing off our shopping lists, we’re all having to adapt in some way.
How we deal with this change can really affect our well-being. You all help make the Community a safe and supportive space where we can all share our worries, but also a positive...
With all the uncertainty of late, we felt it was important for us here on the Community News Blog to keep going as normal where we can. So today we wanted to share with you the second volume of our new series ‘My journey through breast cancer in verse and word’ by Amanda-Jayne. Amanda-Jayne was diagnosed with Breast cancer in June 2019 and used poetry and journaling to diarise her experience throughout. Amanda-Jayne has very kindly sent through her poetry and writing to us here and we...
Hi everyone,
Blankets, cups of tea and biscuits are in order in this uncertain and perhaps stressful month. Discussions about coronavirus (COVID-19) are everywhere on the news and here in the Community, so we wanted to collate some key tips to help you navigate the coming weeks and to stay safe.
The government has issued this advice for those who are particularly vulnerable due to their health. This includes advice for carers, advice on hospital or GP appointments and mental wellbeing. This is being...
