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Latest update is very much more of the same. I have recovered from the drama of last week and I feel that I am slowly but surely making progress.
For the last three days I have swallowed some small mouthfuls of water –this may sound minor but for me it was a huge thing to do. There was a bit of pain along with some coughing and spluttering but it's a good start. I had swallowed nothing for several weeks and this is a small step on the way to getting back to normal. The plan is to continue to increase...
This has been a difficult week and I would describe the progress as two steps forward and one step back.....
Early in the week things were going fine. I was continuing to talk for a few minutes each day and managing the accompanying pain with morphine. I have managed to get my weight up to above 11 stone and was hoping to get a few more pounds on by the end of the week. I did my first exercise session on my cycling machine for several weeks – it was only 15 minutes at a very low resistance setting...
Things are unfolding pretty much as predicted in that some of the side-effects have worsened slightly but things are generally pretty stable.
There is good news in that one or two of the problems have eased – my neck is no longer peeling skin and there is just a slight redness that is reducing each day. I now no longer draw stares in Waitrose (or maybe they've just got used to me)!
The fatigue is still with me (sleeping about 12-14 hours a day) and I'm nowhere near being able to eat...
My radiotherapy treatment ended on Wednesday with my 30thsession and I can tell you that it feels really good not to have to travel the 40 odd miles for my daily zap. The people there tell me that the side-effects will continue for the next couple of weeks and then should slowly subside. Some of them may linger for a month or two but most should disappear completely in time. My next appointment is in two weeks and I'm hoping that I am speaking again by then. Then they will probably decide whether...
As of last Friday evening I have been unable to talk at all. This is due to damage to my throat caused by the radiotherapy. I am in pain for pretty much all of the time –I have upped the morphine dosage but even this is struggling to cope now. I am now officially no food, liquid or communication by mouth!
I only have 7 radiotherapy sessions and 1 chemotherapy to go.
My understanding is that they will assign a speech and language therapist to me once my treatment ceases and I begin the recovery...
Four weeks and two days into the treatment and the side-effects have now really begun to bite, so much so that my chemo session was cancelled yesterday – apparently I had been on a high dosage and so there was scope to do this. One side-effect that is of concern is hearing damage which I'm told can, in some cases, be permanent. At the moment I have ringing in both ears and at the current level it is not really a major problem – it would be if it got much worse though. They are going to make...
Have you ever sat there since your diagnosis for cancer thinking is this it. How long is it going to go on for?
16 months so far for me and and still another 6 to go. I'm getting fed up of this bus journey now and I want to get off,but no matter how many times I ring that bell it doesn't stop.
16 months has been hospitals,hospitals and more hospitals,oh along with no hair,eyebrows and eye lashes and looking like uncle fester. To having an affair with my bed cos I always seemed to be sleeping...
I'm now into the programme of weekly chemotherapy and
daily radiotherapy. I've had two chemos and 6 radios so far. The
chemotherapy involves being on a drip for around 7 hours at a time
but the radiotherapy just involves a 20 minute zap on a huge machine.
Another six to eight weeks to go.
The main issues at the moment are the emerging side effects - severe fatigue and nausea, a lack of saliva and an occasional inability to swallow. These will get worse as the treatment progresses but should...
It was a day in late August , the summer in theUK had been quite good this year and the day i visited my consultant was no exception.
I had gone several times to my GP complaining of piles , sore anus and occasional bleeding .I was recommended Anusol HC and when that didnt work , another prescription steroid cream.
It wasnt very long before i realised that too wasnt working and finally after several visits to my surgery i got examined .A time interval of about 4 months , maybe even longer A week...
