Ding, ding! Round 2

Hi folks 

I’m back to the hospital tomorrow for another battery of tests ahead of starting cycle 2 of the clinical trial that I began on December 27th. 

It’s hard to believe it was just four weeks ago. I was so very unwell. The pain from my poor defunct kidney had overwhelmed me and it was a toss up between sitting it out at A&E at the Norwich and Norfolk Hospital or getting onto the train for London and the trials unit. I did manage the train and the trek from London Liverpool St to Warren St tube. How long those interconnecting tunnels between the mainline station and the tube lines seemed. My brilliant trial doctor and hospice palliative care nurses sorted me out, gave me a bag of drugs to take away and started me on the trial tablets. 

I am feeling so much better now. I’m cooking again - my daughter and I had survived on a diet of ready meals for some months. This week I made falafel, hummus and pita bread from scratch, soup, veggie cottage pie and salted caramel brownies. I still need my stick to walk and I still can’t get up a hill - or at least I can if I take it four steps at a time and have a rest in between. But I am no longer feeling crushed by the fatigue and I can stand unaided for the three minutes the trial requires for a standing blood pressure. Today I took not one but two walks with the dog. The sun was shining and it was blissful. 

It’s impossible to know what’s made the difference. Certainly being on top of the pain has been wonderful. I won’t know if the trial drugs have achieved anything until after a scan on February 18. I’d be very surprised if we see much change; the best I can hope for is no change and no new disease. 

Meanwhile I’m feeling so grateful to have this new lease of life. I’m taking it one day at a time and savouring each of them 

xxx