Tag Archives: cancer

New Beginnings

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Last week I finished working at the job I’ve been working at for 5 years. That’s a long time and a lot has happened in that time.

The postives: got another cat, got some new cars, made progress on my Mazda, visited some new places (Amsterdam, Paris, Hamburg, various places in Wales, Cornwall), got married!

Negatives: Got Cancer (and covid); spent the last year working through a company that had gone through multiple acquisitions culminating in me going off on stress leave for around a month.

Enough is enough!

I’ve been engrossed in watching or learning about Cerro Gordo Ghost Town (see Ghost Town Living) and it’s been a really interesting experience watching someone who had no real life experience of living alone in the middle of nowhere. Needless to say he had the quick realisation that he was the only person who could determine anything that happened there, and he’s got some great philiosophical insights. One thing I’ve really taken away from that all is what he said and that is that if you don’t like something, do something about that. And that’s what I did!

Work got too much and after the big C, I have a different outlook on life. Making the most of every day and life in general is important, and I’m not going to spend it being unhappy, so I spent the time I had taken during the absence of leave finding a new job. Big priorities were ensuring it was another remote working role – I’ve been working remotely since around the beginning of the pandemic and I’ve enjoyed it. You do get lonely at times, but at the same time the pros outweigh the cons. Not having to get stressed in rush hour traffic and shout at other drivers is a bonus. That is one good thing that has come out of the pandemic really, and something that I could have done for a long time (working in IT) but it took that to wake a lot of people up.

End of Year wrap-up

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Me Dec 2020

 

Hm, where to start? This year has been a bit crap hasn’t it?  I’ve just tried to light my fire bin in the garden and everything is too sodden. Even the wood I chopped up and put in there is wet and sodden which sums up the year as a whole.

No one knew what would happen at the beginning of the year. I spent last Christmas and New Year with a cancer diagnosis looming over me, and whilst I was going through the operation in Feburary to have a tumour removed from my leg, the news of Covid coming was everywhere. I was lucky that the op went ahead and the chemo which followed was not delayed… as it has been for so many and for those people I really am sorry.

I won’t mull over this too much as I know people do it have it worse off. And I’ve written a bit about that in my last post – Life is relative – but I wouldn’t wish chemotherapy on anyone. It’s one of those things that starts off OK and then as the treatment continues and your immune system is shot, that everything else goes off the rails. I contracted Covid from hospital and spent 3 weeks getting over it. I was blue lit to Northampton general and spent a week there with 38.5degree fevers twice a day underneath a freezing cold air conditioning duct. It was horrendous. Three weeks with a fever that high twice a day wasn’t pleasant. Luckily the disease didn’t go to my lungs as that could have been a different story. I thank my fitness for that but it could have been 50/50.

I’m done with chemo now, and I’m focussing 100% on physio and getting my leg strong again. I’m on track to put on weight again with a target of 79kg… got another 4 to go and I’m working on building upper body strength again as well. I have a page where you can track progress here: Instagram

I want to say a big thank you to my fiancee Annabelle who’s been an absolute star and a rock this year, having to put up with me being in hospital for 3 weeks at a time or more at times and doing much more housework than previously whilst I recovered. I honestly wouldhn’t have been able to do this without her. A big thank you also to my family and friends, for the video calls and calls in hospital to keep the days occupied.

I also want to say a shoutout to the company I work for for being so tolerant and for allowing me to keep my position. I’m phasing back to full time in Jan 2021.

I’ve been able to keep up with freelance work also, which is useful and will be continuing with that next year.

I appreciate life a lot more now, that’s something new. Every day I wake up now is a good day. I saw some not so nice things having been an inpatient in an oncology / heamotology ward for over 6 months. My emotions are wrecked though. The smallest thing can have me balling my eyes out and just looking at photos of last year can do that but I’m stronger and I’m going to be stronger…

 

And that’s a wrap. Thanks for reading and all the best for 2021 if you read this far!

Cancer, Chemo and Corona

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It’s a weird world we find ourselves in right now. Even more so and scary when having to undergo a pretty involved operation and now continuing with chemotherapy. So just to bring people up to speed with that — the operation I had earlier in the year was to remove the primary tumour. Further scans are good. Chest CT came back with no change prior to the op. The downside is that there are no base line scans to go on, so the only scans are since Sept ’19, up until last month. The scans get repeated, and the next will be due in around 6 months.

I’ve now started chemo treatment and already had one lot at the Leicester Royal Infirmary, and where I’ll be back at the beginning of May. They’ve been great so far and Ward 41 rocks.

With Covid-19 going round, undertaking chemo isn’t necessarily ideal, as it tears down your immune system. I’m pumping myself with vitamins and drinking plenty of fluid as that’s recommended to keep everything going. They’ve told me to carry on eating as much as I can and I can even have the odd beer.

In other news, physio is actually continuing on my knee and leg where I had the op earlier, so this is a two pronged approach. I’m currently mobilising with crutches fine and have 20 degrees of movement in my knee joint with a new swanky leg brace. I’m doing 4-5 sets of physio exercises a day to build up muscle and tendon strength in my leg.

Honestly, the start of this year wasn’t great, but when Corona came along as selfish as it sounds, I’m in the same boat with everyone else now. I’ve not really gone out away from home apart from hospital since the beginning of the year. I’m beyond the crazy stage, and have come to adapt. With me being able to mobilise better I am now able to at least get into the garden a bit. Getting transported to the hospital is the most outdoor action I’ve got in recent weeks and you soon get over how much you take for granted just being able to go outside. It’s been a challenge but hopefully by the time lockdown gets lifted, my physio will be coming on and I’ll at least be able to sit in a car. 6 cycles of chemo in theory takes me to around November 2020, if they decide to go that far. They may stop at 4 depending on how well I handle it.

One thing I have taken out of this whole journey is how damn lucky I am compared to some people, and that there is and will always be someone worse off. I’ll probably try and keep some of these posts shorter but wanted to clear things up. Cancer is a funny topic, with many people not wanting to openly speak about it or experiences but I think it’s worth bring people up to date.

One thing I would say is in any circumstances such as this, is that please do go and see your GP as soon as something doesn’t look or feel right. Don’t take painkillers for prolonged periods of time to supress pain as the pain shouldn’t be there to begin with. I went after a month of persistent pain in my leg, and I’m so glad I did. I’d urge you to do the same!