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Hi All,
Following my first chemo on 30th May, I had terrible pains in my left calf (down from knee to ankle) it really ached. I went to my GP who said it was nothing to do with the chemo - it is the site of an injury I incurred when hit by a car in 1981. I said I thought it was strange that this injury suddenly hurt me after 36 years of nothing but a few cramps in it? GP gave me cream and painkillers. 4 days later I insisted on another appointment and was referred for an ultrasound. On Sunday...
We're back (Myself and Beryl (my stoma)) after a great week in Kos. The weather was fantastic. I didn’t see a cloud for the entire week. Sunny every day and temperatures not below 32 degrees centigrade.
I did have some concerns before departure. Mainly around the effect of the flight on my stoma pouch and also getting holiday insurance. I needn’t have worried about the flight. The only issue was that aircraft toilets are rather small due to the curvature of the aircraft and I found it...
I had my full torso Ct scan today. It was an experience. The scanner on the ward was awaiting maintenance so I was taken to the one in A&E. I had to lie on a bed which was then slid into the large donut shaped machine.
"That a nice piece of machinery," I said, "Is it new?"
The nurse smiled proudly and said, "Yes it is."
I was pleased to have such a state of the art machine for my scan.
I had to have a liquid pumped into my arm to show up all the blood vessels, veins...
Omg.....
Just......
OMG.....
I've been a little MIA this past month because all of my energy has been going into being creative. In my last post I mentioned heading to help fit costumes for an opera company. Well, I also ended up making ALL the headgear for the show as well - all 60 pieces. So all energy and time went into coming up with designs and then making the designs a reality. It took a little over 100 hours to do them all, but I have to say - I'm really pleased with how they all came out...
Two years ago tomorrow I finished the last of 30 RT sessions. The two intravenous session of chemotherapy had also been completed. It was a hellish time. I could not eat or drink, because swallowing was just too agonisingly painful. The worst memory I have though is of vomiting up buckets of mucus from the burns in my throat. This would happen in unpredictable fashion and it seemed to go on forever.
All memories fade and distort after time. But some aspects remain vivid - the mucus, the scraping...
In my last blog post (written about ten million years ago when dinosaurs walked the earth) I referred to the fact that I was messing up the time-space continuum by doing my posts out of sync with the timeline.
In keeping with that I am Quantum Leaping all over the place and messing it all up again. If you don’t have the faintest clue what I am referring to then you should be ashamed of yourselves because you are missing out. Here. Go here.
I promise I will get around to the two posts that I...
a good few days - marred only by a cough and cold - now abating
Hoping coming week will see me in continuing good form (if a tad tired) ahead of rchop 3
Good to feel reasonably fit at this stage
The fact of my bladder tumour is sinking in. When I first was told nine days ago I cried. I cried the next day too. It was intermittent. By the third day I was really calm and have been that way until now. Having the pre-op appointment was the beginning of reality setting in. Thinking about the scans on Monday is also affecting my sense of the reality of the situation. My partner is also feeling it. We both got upset this morning about how my dog Stiggy will cope. I asked Dean to put my pillow and...
I went for my pre-op appointment yesterday, it all went well. I answered a lot of questions, had my heart tested, my pulse taken, my blood pressure checked and a blood sample taken. All is well, I am healthy - apart from the obvious. I have a Ct full torso scan on Monday morning checking chest, abdomin and pelvis. I pray it finds no more lumps anywhere. I have another appointment for an ultrasound scan of bladder and kidneys in the afternoon to see if it has spread. I pray that shows nothing too...
I always knew that the best rucaparib had to offer was a window. I'm grateful it has given me one - but we now have the first signs that the window may be closing.
As I've written before, my consultant tracks the progress of the cancer by measuring a blood protein called CA125 that goes up and down as the cancer waxes and wanes. It is a funny protein that can rise in response to other stresses to do with the menstrual cycle or inflammation or other gynae conditions and it is not always a good...
