-
One Year On
A year ago today I first heard the word “Cancer” from a Doctors mouth. She had examined me, told me she was “not happy” with what she found and after I had gotten dressed, informed me that it was highly likely that I had Cervical cancer. Since then my world has been a blur. Some days I can’t even remember how old I am, or what happened when because since then we have been on the medical treadmill that is fighting cancer. In that time I have learned two things:
-
Chemo Round 4 update
Well! Hello there! It has been a while, hasn’t it? It’s been a particularly challenging cycle and it has sadly kept me from doing what I love most – writing.
-
Newbury Cancer Care Trust
This is a little charity that is very local to me. They provide help to local cancer patients like myself. Anything from transport to and from the hospital, financial grants to help with anything that might be troubling you and two major feats of theirs include Rainbow Rooms and The Rosemary Appeal.
-
A Really Honest Chemo Update – Round 3
I promised myself when I started this blog I would keep it true. That no matter what the reality of my situation was I would share it. Not because I want to aim to scare anyone, because I don’t, or even really to be “educating” people in what it’s like to be a cancer patient, because I’m fairly sure it’s one of those things you can’t really understand unless it happens to you – and please god none of you find out. But because, well, the internet is a place full of smoke and mirrors, where people only share what they want to share and that’s always the wonderful, beautiful…
-
Pumpkin Carving & Half Term Round Up
I’m a tad behind on my posts for the blog because, well… cancer. But I’m here, catching up! During half term, I took my gorgeous biggest little pumpkin carving at a local farm park with some buddies. When we arrived we walked up to the pumpkin patch where each of them picked their own pumpkins to carve.
-
Look Good Feel Better
I’d like to introduce you to a brilliant charity called Look Good Feel Better. I’m sure some of you have probably heard of this charity, but they certainly aren’t the most well-known charity either. Born in the USA, they work with cancer patients up and down the country to help them counter the physical effects chemotherapy.
-
A Super Special Happy Mail!
My goodness. I am SO phenomenally lucky to have so many incredible people around me right now. I don’t want to sound like I’m overly gushing, but I feel so lucky. This Happy Mail has a bit more of a background to it. You see, the sender is a very courageous young woman whom I happened to be friends with at school. Her name is Stephie, and when I remember her at school I think of one of the bubbliest, most vivacious girls. We just sort of lost touch as everyone chose different colleges and different universities and all of a sudden there was adult life.
-
Happy Mail & Halloween From the Biscuiteers!
We got some more happy mail! The company Tom works for were incredibly kind to send us an incredibly beautiful box of biscuits from The Biscuiteers, always yummy but also impeccably iced as per usual!
-
Lucy the Dolly with a Stoma
During the week I had a visit from my friend Sam, she handed me a little gift bag with two little rag dolls in for my girls. Absolutely gorgeous little dolls with one fabulous feature: they both have little stoma bags. Just like me. I couldn’t stop smiling.
-
Chemo Round 2 Update
So, this is round 2 (or 3) depending on how you look at it. The fatigue hit me hard, as always and then as the steroids finished the pain started to kick in and oramorph was no longer helping so we moved onto fentanyl tablets which dissolve under your tongue (and actually don’t taste too bad – bonus!) which worked for a while, until the night that it didn’t and we found that we were calling out nurses every 4 hours, except for during the night when I attempted to get through on fentanyl. In the end, after tripling the dose of fentanyl to no effect, we opted for a syringe…