Last weekend Mum and Dad came up and we enjoyed a weekend of sport - three rugby matches and the Grand Prix highlights! (Well, Dad and I watched the sport, Mum is not such a fan). I gave Mum a great Mother's Day present too - I let her fuss over me!! ;-)
On Monday the three of us took our first visit down to the Royal Surrey Hospital in Guildford to meet with the liver specialist who is going to operate on me. After a thankfully brief game of sardines on the train to Clapham Junction, we then were at the mercy of the South-west Trains announcer who was a little confused to say the least as to which train was next on platform 9! The info screens on the platform itself were of no use either. We even ended up getting on the train to Basingstoke having been told it was the train to Guildford (it wasn't). Thankfully the train guard was on the ball and announced that it wasn't the train to Guildford before it had a chance to leave the platform so off we hopped again! We did eventually get the right train and we were off. Generally, the train seems to be a good way to get to Guildford, even if South-west Trains couldn't work out which train was coming into the platform next!!
My surgeon and clinical nurse specialist both seem really nice and sounded positive that the surgery will be straightforward. It is provisionally booked in for the first week in July. This means that I can go and sun myself in Spain for a week in June as planned - Gareth, you are still booked in for butler duties I hope!!?? The surgery will start off 'key-hole' so that the surgeon can have a good look around my abdomen to make sure that there is nothing else nasty going on that hasn't been picked up on the scans (I am due to have an MRI after the chemo to see what the liver tumour has done in response to the drugs). The surgeon will then open me up and I could have a third to a half of my liver removed. If all goes smoothly in the operation, I will have maybe up to a week in hospital (with up to two days on intensive care so that I can be closely monitored). I may be out in less than a week though as they like to get people up and about quickly and away from hospital food!!! :-) All in all, the surgeon didn't really tell me anything that I wasn't expecting. I was shocked though to learn that the liver can 'regrow' in 6-8 weeks!!! I knew before that it can 'regrow' but didn't realise it was so quick!! My surgeon explained it to me that if you imagine that the liver is like a tree, then you cut off a branch. The branch itself doesn't regrow but more leaves grow on the other branches. I thought that was quite a good analogy!
After finishing up at the hospital - less than an hour, with the appointment starting fairly on time - Mum, Dad and I headed into the shopping area of Guildford. Now I tell you, it's a good thing that I am going to be laid up in a hospital bed when I am in Guildford, as there are some very nice shops there and my credit card could have ended up having a serious workout. Luckily with Mum and Dad with me, I was restrained this time and only bought a few things, including some havianas from TK Maxx for less than half RRP! A girl can never have too many flip flops!! After some lunch, we headed back home on the train (less confusion this time on the part of South-west Trains thankfully). All in all a successful day out!
Wednesday was the day that I added another mile to the clock! I guess now I am technically in my mid-thirties! Eek! To help me celebrate, my old uni house-mate came down from the Lake District for a few days - thank you so much Wayne! He arrived in time to go to a great French cafe for a steak and chips baguette (I should be on commission for the number of people that I have taken there!). A walk in the park followed, taking advantage of the lovely sunshine we have been having!! My birthday evening was spent laughing my way through The Hangover whilst enjoying some sparkling elderflower (Wayne was more manly with a beer!).
Thursday was steak and chips baguette number two!! We met with Bren, Claire, Aisling and Lindsay for lunch - thanks for coming down guys - it was great to catch up! Luckily for Wayne, we didn't talk weather the whole time!! I think the waitress was a bit surprised that we all wanted to have the same thing, but the reputation of this baguette preceded it and thankfully I don't think it was a disappointment! I am going to have to avoid the cafe for a few days now though! :-) After lunch it was time to introduce Wayne to the joys of the chemotherapy day unit at the hospital, as I needed to have some bloods taken and my PICC line flushed and redressed. Thankfully it all happened without incident or too long a wait.
Friday was handover day as Wayne headed back up north and Mum and Dad returned ready for oncology clinic in the afternoon. Dad and I headed to the hospital to find that, surprise surprise, we had a wait! It turned to be an hour wait for a 10 minute appointment!! We found out in the appointment that I am suitable to have a new treatment added to my chemo to try and increase the chance of me making a full recovery! It is a biological drug (Cetuximab) that stops the cancer cells dividing and therefore hopefully stops the cancer growing. I am having this added to my chemo from tomorrow so fingers crossed it will do its job. Having had my PICC line dressing changed (it had fallen off earlier in the day), after a 30 minute wait on the chemo day unit, Dad and I headed for the bus. We got a few hundred metres from the bus stop we got on at and the bus broke down whilst queuing at traffic lights!! We had to walk to the next stop to pick up the next bus!! Thankfully it was not too long a wait and we got home without further incident.
Yesterday I thought was going to be spent celebrating my birthday and Mum's birthday (next week) with my family. It turns out that everyone I know had a different plan for me. I turned up at the restaurant with Mum, Dad and Sarah to find 17 of my friends gathered there for a surprise birthday lunch!! I was in total shock and it was a fantastic surprise - thank you so much for organising it Jo and Lucy!! I am not sure I am speaking to any of you again though for being so sneaky!! ;-) It was fantastic to see everyone and I had a wonderful time! Thanks so much to everyone that came, and especially Liz and family and Alice who travelled so far to celebrate with me!! We had a lovely lunch and afternoon and it was great to see every stage of my life represented. I am so grateful to all my friends and family for all there love and support through everything and lovely to have fun and not just talk about cancer!! I didn't have a camera with me but Jo turned into the official photographer and so I will try to post some pics from her on here soon. I especially want you to see the fab cake that my sis decorated with weather symbols for me!! Thank you all for making my birthday extra special this year!!
So I think that about covers everything this week, and so that's me a third of the way through this chemo treatment phase - cycle 3 starts tomorrow afternoon!!
One final thought - why is it that the grey hairs don't fall out - only the brown ones??!!
Thanks everyone who has made this a brilliant week!
xxxxx
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