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 →
Right then. Where were we? Oh yes, it was the 4th April and I was due to start the third round of PCV chemotherapy but my blood platelets had fallen below the minimum level to be able to undertake chemotherapy, so I'd been sent home for a week to concentrate on growing some more. Truth... Continue Reading →
As chemo cycle 3 loomed, I began to sleep less and worry more, until I came to a stunning realisation: I don't like chemo. As revelations go, it's not up there with Archimedes or Newton's; it was designed to be a medical treatment, not a barrel of laughs, but thus far I had been steadfastly... Continue Reading →
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 →
With perfect timing, we arrived at hospital about 10 minutes before shift change, so had to wait whilst everything was handed over to the one Registrar who'd be in charge of four cancer wards for the night, poor kid. As there's a dedicated cancer hospital in Newcastle, there's no need to go via A&E, you... Continue Reading →
The first day of chemo started with a cup of decaffeinated tea, as prescribed by the safe foods list. It was of course, beyond rank. This whole chemotherapy lark better bloody be worth it, because as sacrifices go, decaff tea is up there with the worst of them. In the chemotherapy day unit, lots of... 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 →
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 →
Although I knew full well that it takes around two weeks for any radiotherapy side effects to show themselves, it's hard not to interpret each and every twinge during the first half of my six weeks of daily radiotherapy as A Sign. Is this tired feeling a symptom of the treatment, a side effect of... Continue Reading →
Not today, Satan. Not today. 