LFG BQ

This week has been really hard. So much so that I don't really know where I'm going with the blog this week. Normally, I have at least a few wise cracks to lean on or a funny photo or two, but today I'm falling a bit short of what to say. Evie asked me yesterday whether I was going to do a blog this week, probably not I said... it would be too miserable. She reminded me that the whole point of writing about this journey was to chart the ups and the downs, and that I was doing it first and foremost to help me through it.  In my brief flirtations with wanting to become a writer (I have 3000 words written in a Word doc somewhere), I remember one of the vaunted top tips for writers is to just keep writing and eventually you'll dig yourself out of the hole you find yourself in. So maybe that is what I need to do now, utilise this as a funnel to empty my head and it'll help process what has got to have been one of the hardest weeks of my life. I've had hard weeks befo...

The phoney war is over, the real thing has begun.  Before each round of treatment I need to have a blood test to make sure I am ready and able to take on the barrage of chemicals. So on Monday morning I drove across to the hospital before 8am as instructed, easily parked(!) and tracked down the blood room. I had been told beforehand that I wouldn't need an appointment, so was a little shocked to see a line of about ten people and massive signs saying 'NO WALK INS - APPOINTMENT ONLY'. Ah.  Well, there are a few positives to take from this situation and despite feeling like one of those terrible people with the queue jumper tickets at Alton Towers, I strode in through the door and told the blood man that I was so sorry, but I have chemo starting on Wednesday but no appointme... don't worry sir, sit down we'll see you next.  Jackpot! So I was in and out within 30 mins, avoiding even having to pay parking.  Suckers.  (The other positives we have discovered is free p...

Pre-Tuesday 5th October Meeting So, it's been a weird old couple of weeks since we last spoke.  After the biopsy, I had a few sore days but nothing too bad. I've also got a really cool scar and I'm even more certain that scars are cool. In the days following, we made sure we got out and walked round the block a few times a day and avoided any lifting (or mowing the lawn - thanks Dad!), whilst keeping on top of my cocktail of painkillers. In fact, not having a shower for FIVE days was the trickiest aspect of the whole thing. Every day felt like I was on a long distant flight somewhere with no sleep and a five minute window to 'freshen up' in the toilets with a flannel before the next leg started. I appreciate they have a purpose in life for removing make-up, skincare, etc., but flannels are crap.  The one thing that showed no signs of improvement was my sleeping. Every night I would fall asleep within minutes of my head hitting the pillow, only to wake up wide awake...