The highs and lows of living with a brain tumour.
Recently, there has been a deluge of messages* from people, requesting updates to this blog (*OK, about half a dozen people emailed to see if I was dead yet). No I'm not dead yet. So here's the plan - I'll issue a rash of short updates and then forget to do any more for another... Continue Reading →
A year on from a brain tumour diagnosis, I reflect on having a big cancerous melon for a heed.
At the first chemo appointment, the nurse had told me to keep a note of any side effects each day. Once the puking episode was sorted, there weren't really any side effects to note down for the rest of the first cycle, so I started writing down daft stuff like 'steam is more visible' (as... Continue Reading →
It's been a while. There are lots of reasons why. Physical - I'll wang on at length about that another time; Practical - not much happens most of the time; Cognitive - treatment is increasingly affecting my ability to think straight; and Mental - literally. Practical The main problem with cancer treatment is that it... Continue Reading →
The first cycle of chemotherapy is scheduled to begin on the 10th January. Barring allergies, poor blood counts or other surprises along the way, I will have six cycles of chemotherapy, with each cycle lasting six weeks. If everything stays on schedule, that's 36 weeks. 252 days. It'll be mid-September at the earliest before I'm... Continue Reading →
Sorry, what? Sarah was right. Once the bell was rung, I could feel the tiredness kicking in even as we walked back to the car park. It was that release of something being over and done with, the breathing out when you didn't even realise you'd been holding your breath. I tried to make sure... Continue Reading →
Yes, I finished radiotherapy, and yes I rang the bell, but it was an anticlimax. Why? Well, lots of reasons really. First off, the day before my final treatment, at the weekly clinician review Sarah the Neuro Oncology nurse specialist reminded me that radiotherapy side effects usually get worse for a few weeks after you... Continue Reading →
First off I need to make it clear that many people lose all their hair due to chemotherapy (even nose hair! who knew?) or alopecia and that is so very much worse than what is happening to me. I am lucky really, and need a dry slap. But I'm still going to whine. At length.... Continue Reading →
It’s me. This is the second Saturday in a row that I feel really quite down. A useless burden. Full of hate, and hateful. This tumour is like a newborn baby. It consumes all your time and available memory, leaving you with nothing else to talk about, boring the pants off everyone else. There's nothing... Continue Reading →
The week leading up to treatment beginning, I'm quite down, tired and crotchety. If I'm like this before treatment starts, what kind of bitch will I be when the going actually gets tough? What seems inescapable is the idiocy of willingly submitting myself to nearly a year of most likely gruelling treatment when I feel... Continue Reading →
Not today, Satan. Not today. 