Well, today I have managed to walk 5km for the first time in ages, which makes me think that I will be able to do the Race for Life without any problems, thank goodness!!! I completed it in 1 hour 8 minutes, so maybe I won't be last in the race after all! ;-)
Now time to make some Thai green curry for dinner - yum yum!!
xxxx
Tuesday, 29 May 2012
Monday, 28 May 2012
Not fair!
Oh, it is not fair! Just to torture me the peeps in one of the houses neighbouring my building is obviously having a BBQ and I can smell it! Humffff!
xxx
xxx
Should have eaten more bananas
Well, after my weekend last weekend in the bathroom, the blood tests done last Monday unsurprisingly showed that I was a bit dehydrated. My sodium levels weren't too bad - I guess that the bag of pretzels worked then! I did have low potassium though. I knew that I should have eaten more bananas!! Anyway, this meant that in addition to the cetuximab infusion on Tuesday, I also had to have some fluids and potassium. Because potassium can cause heart problems, the potassium laced saline had to be dripped into me over the course of 4 hours. This meant another all day event at the hospital, with a 2 hour cetuximab infusion following the fluids! I was the last patient on the unit by the end of the day and poor Selina (my nurse that day) was itching to go home too by the end of it! Oh well, at least we had taken books and lunch with us and I managed to sleep for an hour or two! Once all the infusions were done it was time to say goodbye to my good friend - my PICC line. I was pleasantly surprised at how easily it came out and more importantly how it didn't bleed!! Now I just have five little dots on my arm where the line went in and the two stitches were. I'm sure they'll scar a little bit, but it's been much better than being attacked by needles every week!
Anyway, that was Tuesday. Wednesday I met up with a friend, Lucy. It was lovely not to be cold sensitive and so I was able to enjoy a cold smoothie in the warm weather! In the evening, Sarah and I headed up to Chelsea (darling) for the launch event for the Liz Earle Colour range. I have been using most of the skincare range from Liz Earle for a number of years and would recommend it to anyone. Even now with my super dry and sensitive skin, it has not really caused any problems for me. As my family can testify, my bathroom cupboard is chocked full of the products!!! ;-) Anyway, unfortunately, my facial rash was playing up in the heat so I wasn't really in a place to try any of the new make-up, but it all looked good and I did treat myself to another lip gloss (have one or two lip glosses to say the least). After a wander up the Kings Road and a pizza for dinner, we did a tour of inner south-west London on the bus home!
Thursday was a bit of a lazy day after a morning yoga session with Clare - I was able to do more now that my PICC is gone, which was great, although with the warm weather it did give me a little taste of what Bikram yoga is like! I'm not sure that I could cope with the heat that involves!
Sarah went home on Thursday and it was time for me to fly solo for a week. With the heat (my flat has been getting up to 27C), I must admit I have not done a lot. I have managed to get a walk in each day and I think I have figured out now how to use the Nike + GPS app on my phone so that I can more accurately measure how far I have walked! It is less than two weeks now until I have to do my Race for Life (shameless plug for my sponsor page coming up: My sponsorship page for Race for Life) so I really have to get practising. I am hopeful that I will manage to get up to the 5km distance this week, with some less hot weather expected as the week moves on.
I had a lovely long lunch with my friend Lindsay on Saturday. We managed to get an outside table in the sunshine at one of the local pubs, albeit next to the road. Why are there no decent beer gardens in London?! Anyway, it was lovely to catch up with Lindz and hear all about her plans - hope the leg and foot heal quickly hun!!
So I am now not only in Race for Life preparation mode, but am also trying to get ready for my holiday to Spain with 7 mates from work. I have been trying on summer clothes and it looks like I have to go shopping for shorts - watch out world, the legs may be coming out!! I have ordered a couple of tankinis from the net - my lovely scar is a good excuse to not get into bikini shape!! ;-) As if that is ever going to happen! I just hope they arrive in time. I must admit I was very pleased to find that last years cropped trousers still fit - couldn't have coped the last few days otherwise! I just hope the weather is going to be nice and that us 8 weather forecasters do not bring a curse of bad weather! :-) I have managed to complete one piece of holiday preparation today though - the all important ice cream test! I have not dared try ice cream since starting chemo again as the cold could have closed my throat. But I decided that as I can handle things in the fridge and freezer again without incident, it was probably safe to try ice cream again. You'll be pleased to hear that I survived and the ice cream was very nice and much appreciated on another hot day! Yay!!!
The rest of the week will hopefully be spent getting in more walks, 2 or maybe even 3 yoga sessions (they have started a 'Yoga for Cancer Care' class at my local studio which I am keen to try) and then I am heading back to my folks place for the Jubilee weekend and Dad's birthday! I may even manage to find some shorts!
Oh, while I think about it, I need some advice from my Apple addicted friends (the technology not the fruit). I have been trying to hold out for the iPhone 5 before changing my phone, but my current iPhone 3 is really beginning to suffer from old age (it is so slow to do anything and a lot of the apps are now saying that they will not work properly). The latest rumour I have read online is that the new phone will be out in Oct (I was hoping for June / July). So anyway, do you think it is worth trying to wait out for the iPhone 5 or is it not likely to be much different from the 4S, which I could upgrade to now? Thanks! (I must admit to almost upgrading the other night as well as almost getting myself the new iPad - I can't really justify that though as I have a laptop, iPhone and a Kindle so can't really see the need for an iPad)
Anyway, enough of my ramblings - I'm sure you've all gone to light the BBQ and open the Pimms by now (I miss both these things but don't have a garden so can't have a BBQ and as yet have not really started drinking again yet) and if not have dropped off to sleep!! ;-)
Enjoy the sunshine!
xxxxxxxx
Anyway, that was Tuesday. Wednesday I met up with a friend, Lucy. It was lovely not to be cold sensitive and so I was able to enjoy a cold smoothie in the warm weather! In the evening, Sarah and I headed up to Chelsea (darling) for the launch event for the Liz Earle Colour range. I have been using most of the skincare range from Liz Earle for a number of years and would recommend it to anyone. Even now with my super dry and sensitive skin, it has not really caused any problems for me. As my family can testify, my bathroom cupboard is chocked full of the products!!! ;-) Anyway, unfortunately, my facial rash was playing up in the heat so I wasn't really in a place to try any of the new make-up, but it all looked good and I did treat myself to another lip gloss (have one or two lip glosses to say the least). After a wander up the Kings Road and a pizza for dinner, we did a tour of inner south-west London on the bus home!
Thursday was a bit of a lazy day after a morning yoga session with Clare - I was able to do more now that my PICC is gone, which was great, although with the warm weather it did give me a little taste of what Bikram yoga is like! I'm not sure that I could cope with the heat that involves!
Sarah went home on Thursday and it was time for me to fly solo for a week. With the heat (my flat has been getting up to 27C), I must admit I have not done a lot. I have managed to get a walk in each day and I think I have figured out now how to use the Nike + GPS app on my phone so that I can more accurately measure how far I have walked! It is less than two weeks now until I have to do my Race for Life (shameless plug for my sponsor page coming up: My sponsorship page for Race for Life) so I really have to get practising. I am hopeful that I will manage to get up to the 5km distance this week, with some less hot weather expected as the week moves on.
I had a lovely long lunch with my friend Lindsay on Saturday. We managed to get an outside table in the sunshine at one of the local pubs, albeit next to the road. Why are there no decent beer gardens in London?! Anyway, it was lovely to catch up with Lindz and hear all about her plans - hope the leg and foot heal quickly hun!!
So I am now not only in Race for Life preparation mode, but am also trying to get ready for my holiday to Spain with 7 mates from work. I have been trying on summer clothes and it looks like I have to go shopping for shorts - watch out world, the legs may be coming out!! I have ordered a couple of tankinis from the net - my lovely scar is a good excuse to not get into bikini shape!! ;-) As if that is ever going to happen! I just hope they arrive in time. I must admit I was very pleased to find that last years cropped trousers still fit - couldn't have coped the last few days otherwise! I just hope the weather is going to be nice and that us 8 weather forecasters do not bring a curse of bad weather! :-) I have managed to complete one piece of holiday preparation today though - the all important ice cream test! I have not dared try ice cream since starting chemo again as the cold could have closed my throat. But I decided that as I can handle things in the fridge and freezer again without incident, it was probably safe to try ice cream again. You'll be pleased to hear that I survived and the ice cream was very nice and much appreciated on another hot day! Yay!!!
The rest of the week will hopefully be spent getting in more walks, 2 or maybe even 3 yoga sessions (they have started a 'Yoga for Cancer Care' class at my local studio which I am keen to try) and then I am heading back to my folks place for the Jubilee weekend and Dad's birthday! I may even manage to find some shorts!
Oh, while I think about it, I need some advice from my Apple addicted friends (the technology not the fruit). I have been trying to hold out for the iPhone 5 before changing my phone, but my current iPhone 3 is really beginning to suffer from old age (it is so slow to do anything and a lot of the apps are now saying that they will not work properly). The latest rumour I have read online is that the new phone will be out in Oct (I was hoping for June / July). So anyway, do you think it is worth trying to wait out for the iPhone 5 or is it not likely to be much different from the 4S, which I could upgrade to now? Thanks! (I must admit to almost upgrading the other night as well as almost getting myself the new iPad - I can't really justify that though as I have a laptop, iPhone and a Kindle so can't really see the need for an iPad)
Anyway, enough of my ramblings - I'm sure you've all gone to light the BBQ and open the Pimms by now (I miss both these things but don't have a garden so can't have a BBQ and as yet have not really started drinking again yet) and if not have dropped off to sleep!! ;-)
Enjoy the sunshine!
xxxxxxxx
Monday, 21 May 2012
Owww!
Why do paper cuts hurt so much?? I'd say its worse than abdominal surgery, but that might be a slight exaggeration! Hurts though! :-(
xxx
P.S. My good friends Paul and Helen witnessed the eclipse from Texas yesterday. Paul has posted some great photos on his blog - http://ukstormchaser.blogspot.co.uk/ I'm sure he won't mind if you take a look!
xxx
P.S. My good friends Paul and Helen witnessed the eclipse from Texas yesterday. Paul has posted some great photos on his blog - http://ukstormchaser.blogspot.co.uk/ I'm sure he won't mind if you take a look!
Sunday, 20 May 2012
Dead tumour!
As many of you know from Facebook (thanks for all the comments and likes), I had some good news about my scan when I saw my oncologist in clinic on Friday. Dr Lofts told me and Dad (my oncology clinic buddy) that the tumour looks like it has died!! Now, I was just hoping to hear that it hadn't grown and that there was nothing else showing up - there is nothing else showing up - but to hear that we'd killed the tumour was great news!! She showed us on the scan images that the tumour is showing as a black blob in the top of my liver. She said that this means that there is no blood flow in the tumour as it was not showing up any contrast dye that had been injected into me. This is in contrast to other scans that have shown it as a bright spot where a lot of the dye has been in the tumour. This is all great news! Whether it is a result of the chemo drugs or my mouse treatment or the other things I have been doing - trying to cut down on sugary foods, eating more fruit and veg, adding turmeric to random meals - I am not sure, but I expect it was a combination of factors. Anyway, whatever it was, it's something that has worked in my favour and I am not going to worry about it! I now have one final mouse treatment on Tuesday just to make doubly sure that nothing has the chance to do anything. It is then rest and recovery time before the operation in July and then twelve more weeks of chemo and eight more weeks of mouse treatment in the late summer / early autumn to just mop up any rogue bowel cancer cells that might be bobbing about!
It turns out that I am going to have to have my PICC line out before the operation as they will be putting a central line into the same vein, so I may well be getting my PICC out on Tuesday after my mouse treatment. This will mean that I won't have to go to the hospital every week to get it cleaned and flushed and I will be able to leave off the cling-film every time I have a shower!! I'd then get another PICC put in before starting chemo again later in the year. This will obviously make life much easier over the next few weeks, but I am a bit nervous about getting it out and another one put in - it wasn't the most pleasant experience having it put in, but then I guess I'll know what to expect next time I have it put in. I'm also a bit nervous about having to be attacked by needles again when it comes to having to have my MRI in Guildford in three weeks and again for my anaesthetic for the operation. I hope though that my veins will be in a more cooperative mood than they were for the aborted CT last week. Oh well, bridges to be crossed when we get to them I guess!!!
All in all a good news day!
I've since been having a lazy weekend as my body decided to let me know that I am still not totally well, even with the tumour now being dead! To put it politely, I have not dared move too far from the bathroom. Oh well, hopefully all will settle down soon and I can enjoy going to the hospital for treatment and not come out sensitive to the cold and totally drained of energy (and hopefully having not spent too many hours there - the treatment should take a little over two hours and then who knows how long it'll take for them to take out the PICC).
Right then folks, I hope y'all have a great week
xxxxx
It turns out that I am going to have to have my PICC line out before the operation as they will be putting a central line into the same vein, so I may well be getting my PICC out on Tuesday after my mouse treatment. This will mean that I won't have to go to the hospital every week to get it cleaned and flushed and I will be able to leave off the cling-film every time I have a shower!! I'd then get another PICC put in before starting chemo again later in the year. This will obviously make life much easier over the next few weeks, but I am a bit nervous about getting it out and another one put in - it wasn't the most pleasant experience having it put in, but then I guess I'll know what to expect next time I have it put in. I'm also a bit nervous about having to be attacked by needles again when it comes to having to have my MRI in Guildford in three weeks and again for my anaesthetic for the operation. I hope though that my veins will be in a more cooperative mood than they were for the aborted CT last week. Oh well, bridges to be crossed when we get to them I guess!!!
All in all a good news day!
I've since been having a lazy weekend as my body decided to let me know that I am still not totally well, even with the tumour now being dead! To put it politely, I have not dared move too far from the bathroom. Oh well, hopefully all will settle down soon and I can enjoy going to the hospital for treatment and not come out sensitive to the cold and totally drained of energy (and hopefully having not spent too many hours there - the treatment should take a little over two hours and then who knows how long it'll take for them to take out the PICC).
Right then folks, I hope y'all have a great week
xxxxx
Wednesday, 16 May 2012
Travel insurance update
I know you've all been hanging on the edge of your seats with my insurance dilemma so I thought that I'd let you know that I've got it all sorted.
I spent this afternoon on the phone today and contacted all sorts of companies that apparently specialise in covering people with cancer. Anyway, after answering lots of medical questions I got various responses from 'sorry we can't cover you as you are still awaiting treatment' to 'yes we can insure you, for £1620' but finally I got the answer I was looking for 'yes we can cover you for the total premium of £28.98'!!! I couldn't believe it but yes a company called Insurancewith is giving me travel insurance to cover my cancer for less than £30! The only thing that isn't covered is if I need to cancel my trip because of needing treatment. I can live with that!! Yay yay yay! I'm off to Spain and no one needs to worry about pushing me down the stairs to break my leg to get me flown home if something cancery crops up!! ;-)
And Emma, Phil and Erin I will behave in the manor you suggest!! ;-)
Happy travels everyone
Xxxx
I spent this afternoon on the phone today and contacted all sorts of companies that apparently specialise in covering people with cancer. Anyway, after answering lots of medical questions I got various responses from 'sorry we can't cover you as you are still awaiting treatment' to 'yes we can insure you, for £1620' but finally I got the answer I was looking for 'yes we can cover you for the total premium of £28.98'!!! I couldn't believe it but yes a company called Insurancewith is giving me travel insurance to cover my cancer for less than £30! The only thing that isn't covered is if I need to cancel my trip because of needing treatment. I can live with that!! Yay yay yay! I'm off to Spain and no one needs to worry about pushing me down the stairs to break my leg to get me flown home if something cancery crops up!! ;-)
And Emma, Phil and Erin I will behave in the manor you suggest!! ;-)
Happy travels everyone
Xxxx
Tuesday, 15 May 2012
CT scan success
Well, today has been a more successful day than yesterday. I got kindly woken by a call from a radiographer at the hospital (I'm not a morning person at the best of times, so I guess an 8.50am call isn't too bad really!) to try and sort out having a CT scan after last night's faffing. It turns out that I could have easily be canulated through my hand no problem, despite what the consultant said last night. However, when I mentioned that I had a PICC line, Brenda (the radiographer) seemed to think this was wonderful. She told me that depending on the type of PICC line I have, I could either be attached to the pump for the contrast dye to go in, or she could manually push the dye through the line. All in all I thought that this was great news - no needles! It was a good thing she called when she did though as I can't have food for 4 hours before the scan so no breakfast for me! (It was a good thing that we had fish and chips last night as a post (failed) scan treat!)
Anyway, I was already off to the hospital this morning for a non-cancer related appointment (at Christmas I was treated with a steroid injection for 'trigger finger' and this was just a check up to see if all was fine - it is). Therefore, we went off to the scanning department after my hand check up and met with the lovely Brenda. She remembers me from last year when we had the fun of the fire-alarm (I won't bore you with that story again - you must all know about it by now)!! She had a look at my PICC line and it is the new type that can be hooked up to the pump -yay!! So from there on it was smooth sailing - I was all connected up and the scan was done! I was even shown the poster on the wall on how to hook up a PICC to the pump for the contrast dye - not sure why they couldn't look at that last night!! According to Brenda, in future, make sure any CT appointments are daytime ones, not evening ones so that she can look after me!! :-)
This afternoon, Mum and I had a go at juicing for the first time - a nice green veg juice as recommended by Aisling - thanks Aisling! It was really yummy and I've made enough for the rest of the week! I'm now scouring my recipe books for the next idea, although Ingy I will be trying your suggestion - thanks mate!
The rest of today has consisted of more zzzzz!! I am slowly getting more energy each day, but it's being a slow old bounce-back this time around!
Mum's heading back home tomorrow and then it's Dad's turn to babysit Thursday / Friday so that we can go for my check-up with my oncologist and have my PICC flushed again - this PICC is getting an awful lot of TLC to help me get through the rest of my treatment!! Hopefully my oncologist will have some results from today's scan when we see her on Friday, so fingers crossed it doesn't show anything it shouldn't!
Well, that's all from me folks! All I have left to say is that I hope my great friends Helen and Paul get some bad weather to chase through the states soon!! Happy holidays guys!
xxxxxxx
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