Category Archives: friends

no more chemo hand!

03 Friday Apr 2009

Posted by in cancer, chemo, food & drink, friends, gadgets, health & happiness, hospitals

≈ 12 Comments

chemo-arm

… well, after today’s session.

And wow, as I sit here with my throbbingly painful “chemo arm” and weak & useless achy “chemo hand”, I am convinced that getting the port is the right way to go. It is seriously going take away one of the worst side effects I get from my present chemo regimen (Xelox/Oxiplatin infusion; Xeloda chemo pills). And so,  if the new whack of anti-nausea pills also work, then I’ll only – ha! – have to put up with the cold thang (not being able to touch, eat or drink anything cold), and feeling really really tired for about ten days out of the three-week cycle. “Razor throat” and “metal mouth” are also quite unpleasant, but they usually only last for 5 and 10 days respectively, and they don’t stop me from doing stuff (just from doing them pleasantly) …

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chemo picnic

01 Wednesday Apr 2009

Posted by in cancer, chemo, food & drink, friends, hope

≈ 24 Comments

brown-bag-lunchPrepping for tomorrow’s chemo session.

Trust me, chemo is no picnic. But that doesn’t mean you can’t bring your own. The last time my friend Judy came with me for a chemo session it ended up lasting long past lunch time.  I hadn’t had any breakfast because I was feeling so nervous, but I wasn’t worried because on a previous visit I’d noticed sandwiches, yoghurts, fruit and drinks set out.  Well ha, on the occasion of which I speak both Judy and I were getting a little peckish around 3 o’clock and so she went off in search of the food trolley.  The only thing left on one of the trays was a mystery meat sandwich that neither of us could bring ourselves to eat. As a result, I left there (around 5pm) feeling very weak and wonky. Not eating on chemo day is a VERY BAD IDEA …

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my hero!

31 Tuesday Mar 2009

Posted by in cancer, friends, hope, hospitals

≈ 14 Comments

the-pabster

The Pabster really saved the day yesterday.

I was very nervous about meeting with Dr Ana again, especially as I’d spent most of our last appointment crying my eyes out and not making a whole lot of sense. But luckily Pablo found time to come with me, even though he’s been crazy busy these days with a new work project, and it really helped having him there. Especially as he’d been there for the death sentence and also when I was suddenly pronounced miraculously “cured” in January…
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making a list…

29 Sunday Mar 2009

Posted by in cancer, friends, hospitals

≈ 16 Comments

list

… and checking it twice.

Really need to feel more together and in control when I see my oncologist again later on today.  I have all sorts of notes and questions and even a time graph showing how long my chemo symptoms last during the three-week cycle.  I hope she listens this time.

Wish me luck!

prognosis & treatment (4)

24 Tuesday Mar 2009

Posted by in cancer, friends, health & happiness, home, hospitals, sevilla, spain, work

≈ 46 Comments

creation-michelangeloHave decided to get creative about this …

Had the latest PET scan last Thursday, after having been “rescued” by my new oncologist a few days earlier. She was the first person since all this started last May to point out that CEA marker tests were totally useless in my case (they always ended up “normal” even when I  actually had tumours) and also suggested that CT scans were probably not going to be that helpful either. Hence the latest PET scan. And well, it wasn’t very good news …

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