tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24364974049600763002024-09-05T23:21:29.703+01:00The Evil CrabMusings on the Big CChinothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04438985267895121542noreply@blogger.comBlogger142125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2436497404960076300.post-51456037701005965582012-02-29T00:24:00.000+00:002012-02-29T00:26:17.812+00:00Full circleFirst of all, sorry for the radio silence - things have been very busy lately and I'm afraid that the blog has fallen by the wayside as a consequence.
So! I am cancer free - all the chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments are done and dusted and I survived. I am a little worse for wear for it but I'm still here. The past year has been a challenge but all of us have our crosses to Chinothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04438985267895121542noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2436497404960076300.post-52966357425129087612012-02-02T19:22:00.000+00:002012-02-02T19:22:16.016+00:00Help...Tomorrow is the last day of my radiotherapy, and the last day of my treatment. And I suddenly find that I'm not in a very good place right now... In fact, I think I'm about have a massive panic attack. At this point, I would like the treatments to go on and on - yes, even FEC chemotherapy - just to make sure that the cancer does not come back.
I think I'm going to throw up.Chinothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04438985267895121542noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2436497404960076300.post-66528555094591857842012-01-31T22:39:00.000+00:002012-01-31T22:39:27.652+00:00Nearly there...Friday will be the last day of my radiotherapy. Starting tomorrow and till Friday I will be receiving a boost in radiation levels to make sure that all the cancer is gone. Who knows? I may glow in the dark by Friday night. I should be excited - with the end of it, not from the glowing - but just like my experience with chemotherapy, I am more nervous. This is it; apart Chinothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04438985267895121542noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2436497404960076300.post-61973785689111838252012-01-18T21:42:00.001+00:002012-01-18T21:42:49.964+00:00ExerciseI finally dragged myself back to the gym this week after a two-month break. Initially it was because I had just had my operation, then Christmas came along and I just did not have time. So I was pretty nervous when I mounted the spin bike the other day; I figured I would be pretty unfit from the long break.
As it turns out my fears were unfounded: I found myself a lot fitter Chinothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04438985267895121542noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2436497404960076300.post-46552958431922031492012-01-17T21:37:00.000+00:002012-01-17T21:45:16.699+00:00Another hair lamentWhen I started chemotherapy, my lovely girlfriend L (who is apparently very hairy) volunteered to keep all of her shaven, depilated and waxed body hair for me so that eventually, I could turn these hair scraps into scarves or even a wig, once I had lost all my hair. (Some ruder items were suggested, but I will refrain from mentioning them as my parents read my blog.)
Sadly, I never did Chinothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04438985267895121542noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2436497404960076300.post-23658659920971087412012-01-12T17:57:00.001+00:002012-01-12T18:00:33.615+00:00Radio GagaI started my radiotherapy treatment yesterday. Pretty painless - I felt like I was a character in a pornographic science fiction movie - lying down topless on a strange laser machine with my arms raised. Although my wrists were not chained to the strange machine, they may as well have been as I am NOT ALLOWED TO MOVE whilst treatment is ongoing.
The nurses attending to me are very Chinothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04438985267895121542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2436497404960076300.post-3723649646147857362012-01-06T00:01:00.000+00:002012-01-06T00:01:00.604+00:00A new me?It was my 46th birthday yesterday. Add to this the New Year, and the fact that I am now cancer free, I feel under pressure to be a better person or at least, come up with some pretty heavy resolutions. And although I have spouted on and on about how the experience has changed me, I wonder how much it has, really. Initially I was convinced that once I was over the cancer, I wouldChinothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04438985267895121542noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2436497404960076300.post-9473113539210395092012-01-04T09:16:00.000+00:002012-01-04T09:20:57.183+00:00TattooSo, it's 2012 and a whole new year awaits us! Happy New Year! Admittedly, I had almost forgotten the whole cancer thing, what with the twins' birthday, Christmas and the New Year. But yesterday it was back to the real world and with a slightly heavy heart I dragged myself to hospital for a CT scan to prepare myself for radiotherapy which starts next week. I was preparing Chinothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04438985267895121542noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2436497404960076300.post-34652483156911764022011-12-19T11:17:00.001+00:002011-12-20T07:22:03.913+00:00Neither do INearly a month ago, I took off all the bandages from my lumpectomy and was staring at Mr Tit-man's handiwork in the bathroom mirror. Needless to say, my breast was bruised and battered. LH was in the bedroom so I called out: 'Come and take a look at my Frankenstein boob!' He then answered with a very adamant 'No way'. This quite upset me so I asked him why he refused to Chinothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04438985267895121542noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2436497404960076300.post-66902013021773077142011-12-16T21:26:00.000+00:002011-12-19T11:04:06.534+00:00What a week!Monday, December 12
Coffee morning at the chemo ward organised by the lovely nurses R and A-M. A whole myriad of women, which really just goes to show that cancer does not choose its victims. Some of the women were done and dusted with the entire process, and it was lovely to speak and learn from them; and also to feel inspired by how well they were all doing. Some women were just starting, andChinothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04438985267895121542noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2436497404960076300.post-51325805112082672662011-12-11T22:00:00.000+00:002011-12-11T22:00:57.114+00:00Oh dearThe other night I went to bed and started to read 'Anticancer', a book by a man called David Servan-Schreiber, who was diagnosed with brain cancer and managed to ward it off via chemotherapy and good nutrition and exercise. I mentioned the book earlier in this blog, when I made a made a list of necessary chemo kit. I love the book because I feel slightly in control of my health; I feel that I Chinothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04438985267895121542noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2436497404960076300.post-948739197625568172011-12-05T23:22:00.000+00:002011-12-05T23:22:53.748+00:00Little thrillsToday, wore mascara and had my eyebrows threaded for the first time in six months. Ha!
It really doesn't take much to make me happy!Chinothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04438985267895121542noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2436497404960076300.post-17321743395589313252011-12-04T22:15:00.000+00:002011-12-04T22:15:07.333+00:00The highs and lowsWhen I saw Dr M last Wednesday I asked him when I could finally have my portacath (ie Gross Protrusion in my upper arm where all the drugs have made their entry into my body) taken out and he told me to speak to the chemo nurses, which I duly did. Surprisingly, I received a phone call from the hospital later that same afternoon, telling me that the procedure could be done on Friday.
Sadly, LHChinothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04438985267895121542noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2436497404960076300.post-90951810866997304662011-12-01T19:29:00.002+00:002011-12-01T21:54:09.387+00:00Team JacobI was invited for lunch yesterday at the very lovely A's, and just as I was about to leave to go to it, I noticed that my eyebrows had actually become quite unruly and needed a bit of tidying up. This was quite momentous as I have not groomed by eyebrows since they fell off around four months ago. The problem is that I don't do my own eyebrows: I normally have some woman thread it: ie, she Chinothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04438985267895121542noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2436497404960076300.post-12279414329559789762011-11-30T23:26:00.000+00:002011-11-30T23:26:34.258+00:00The fine print (ie a few boring details)Saw oncologist Dr M this morning and he reiterated the good news that breast cancer surgeon Mr Tit-man had given me last week - that I am cancer free. He was slightly more reticent though, because I did not do the usual course, ie I did not have the full lymph node dissection. However, he did say that since my tumour had reacted very well to the chemotherapy, the lymph nodes should have done theChinothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04438985267895121542noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2436497404960076300.post-90356198596829392812011-11-25T23:11:00.001+00:002011-11-25T23:13:14.594+00:00ThanksgivingEarlier today I attended a charity coffee morning for breast cancer, organised by the beautiful S. I knew nearly everyone there; in fact I felt almost like a minor celebrity as most had heard the news that I had been given the all-clear. In the midst of all the conversation someone mentioned that I'd had a bad year and I kept quiet, as I completely disagreed. I did not voice my disagreement Chinothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04438985267895121542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2436497404960076300.post-44889088406447812632011-11-24T12:44:00.002+00:002011-11-24T13:03:08.171+00:00What I'm truly proud ofLast night, when we arrived home, second son E opened the door for us and I immediately shouted, "I have no more cancer!" And he replied, "Oh, okay" and rushed off to do whatever very important thing he was doing before we interrupted him with our arrival.
Eldest son C and daughter N did not react with much more emotion either when we told them the good news. And this is the one thing I am Chinothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04438985267895121542noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2436497404960076300.post-83676139922998707202011-11-23T23:17:00.000+00:002011-11-23T23:17:19.753+00:00Ding dong, the evil crab is dead!Yes, 'tis true, the evil crab is no more. Hurrah! Saw Mr Tit-man tonight and he gave LH and I the good news. Apparently (now hopefully I get this right - I was pretty overcome with emotion that I turned into some kind of blubbering wreck) chemotherapy attacks tumours in three ways:
1. they shrink the dang things into oblivion;
2. they make the tumours smaller and smaller and eventually all Chinothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04438985267895121542noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2436497404960076300.post-40744502792291099652011-11-20T22:35:00.001+00:002011-11-20T22:35:28.917+00:00Ewww...On Wednesday, the day I left hospital, I received a 'phone call from Nurse M, not just for her to find out how I was doing, but also to order me to take my bandages off on Saturday. But I just had a chunk of my breast taken out on Tuesday, I argued. She wasn't having any of it however. Visions of Nurse Diesel in High Anxiety suddenly entered my mind...
Well, Saturday was yesterday and Chinothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04438985267895121542noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2436497404960076300.post-71711954276075748632011-11-16T21:34:00.000+00:002011-11-16T21:34:37.702+00:00HomeI'm back home after spending the night in hospital. I had my lumpectomy yesterday; hopefully all traces of the evil crab are out of my body. However, we won't know for sure till next week: we will have the results of the biopsy then. If it is all clear, it's time to rejoice. If not, we will have to consider a mastectomy. Although the mastectomy will come with a tummy tuck, I'm not THAT desperate Chinothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04438985267895121542noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2436497404960076300.post-71911399083082486252011-11-14T22:16:00.001+00:002011-11-16T21:46:57.678+00:00CuckooI am surrounded by some pretty insane people. They think that they're normal, but really they're not. However, I spent three hours over lunch with four of these pretty mad (but absolutely gorgeous) people earlier today and I can, hand on heart, say that they are pretty crazy.
LH and the children are equally mad, and I have also received messages of support from the downright strange J, who Chinothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04438985267895121542noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2436497404960076300.post-63094314010505091152011-11-14T21:58:00.000+00:002011-11-14T21:58:25.912+00:00The first cut is the deepestSo, I'm going under the knife tomorrow for my lumpectomy. The evil crab will finally be excised. I'm hoping that this 'cake slice' won't be too big. (See October 12 entry 'Yippee'.) After all, the 'cake' isn't very large to begin with and I don't really want to end up with a pancake.
Wish me luck.Chinothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04438985267895121542noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2436497404960076300.post-61636551554065733402011-11-12T21:28:00.000+00:002011-11-12T21:28:42.079+00:00I've got chills, they're multiplyingI've got the flu, and despite my giving LH a very hard time for his man flu, I'm milking this for all its forth. After all, I do feel terrible; and not only that, I'm worried sick that because of this darned flu my operation on Tuesday will be postponed. I actually saw the GP yesterday just to make sure that my cold had not turned into a chest infection. But apparently, there was no rattling Chinothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04438985267895121542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2436497404960076300.post-59568212439989807982011-11-10T15:56:00.000+00:002011-11-10T15:56:22.400+00:00Sniffle, sniffleI managed to avoid the cold whilst I was undergoing chemotherapy. But now that I'm done, I'm suddenly all bunged up! According to girlfriend S, it's probably because I was on high-alert whilst I was undergoing treatment. And now that I've relaxed a bit, I'm more prone to infection since I'm not looking out for it. Dang. Does this mean that I must continue with the wheatgrass and horse Chinothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04438985267895121542noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2436497404960076300.post-82070791275200794612011-11-09T23:39:00.000+00:002011-11-09T23:39:48.034+00:00By the way...As it turns out, the feeling of bloatedness that I constantly had in the Philippines was not a result of massive overeating - it was water retention caused by the heat. (Well, most of it was anyway.) And it wasn't the dreaded DVT either - my feet are actually back to normal size and I can wear sandals again without embarrassment. Except that I cannot because it's very cold here.
And I've Chinothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04438985267895121542noreply@blogger.com0