The highs and lows of living with a brain tumour.
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 →
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 →
You're so brave! This is what people say to you when you're going through something like this. Nah. It's not bravery, it's lack of choicery. Life lobs these boulders in all of our paths, and you either climb over them or sit down and give up. No one makes it through unscathed, and we all... Continue Reading →
The thing about brain tumours is that there are over 120 types. Granted, adult primary brain tumours tend to be one of a handful of types, but multiply that by all the different places in your brain they could occur, and times that by the age and underlying health of the person who owns that... Continue Reading →
Not today, Satan. Not today. 