I think the kindest description for this week is that it has been rough but with some good points. There was the terrible uncertainty of when, and sometimes even whether cycle 4 would ever start. Of course it did, and I went into hospital on Tuesday evening, kindly driven by Fabienne, which took a burden […]
By Gillian I was reading our local paper last night, and saw that there was a good review of a play at the Malvern Theatres. Tom Conti (of Shirley Valentine fame for those of us of a certain age) was starring in a comedy “Wife after Death” by Eric Chappell. I thought that we could […]
By Gillian Today Chris had four hospital appointments in two hospitals in two separate counties. A very busy day! He started the day in the Oncology ward at Cheltenham hospital, where he has been for the last two nights having his fourth cycle of chemotherapy. I drove down there to pick him up, arriving at […]
I was phoned at about a quarter to three this afternoon and offered a bed. The chemotherapy will start tomorrow, but because I am here it will be able to start bright and early. What a relief! Gillian was away on business, so Fabienne very kindly brought me to Cheltenham. Thank you, Fabienne, I’m so […]
Our lives at the moment are ruled by uncertainty. I never know from day to day exactly how I will feel. Will I be nauseous? Tired? Full of energy? It’s impossible to tell in advance. The uncertainty doesn’t stop with how I will feel; it extends to my treatment. I was supposed to go into […]
What’s this? Week 4? I thought the cycles were three weeks long. It’s true, they are, but there has been a delay in me going in to hospital to start cycle 4, so here I am, still at home, half-way through the fourth week of the third cycle. This extra long cycle means that I’ve […]
Earlier this month some researchers from California Institute of Technology published a paper in Nature with the intriguing title Evidence of RNAi in humans from systemically administered siRNA via targeted nanoparticles. Let’s pick that mess of jargon apart, shall we. RNAi is RNA interference, which means that the cell’s normal processes are interrupted. In this […]
I was due to go into hospital today to start cycle 4, but when I phoned in this morning I was told that they didn’t have a bed for me, and that I should try again tomorrow. I think I have to accept that going in on the planned day is an increasingly unlikely occurrence. […]
In spite of a slight hiccough yesterday, it has been an extremely good week. I’ve been on three excursions, received some test results, had very little pain, and even sold some redundant photography gear on eBay. On Monday Gillian and I went to visit Gloucester cathedral. I remember it as being full of light, and […]
By Gillian Chris has been feeling odd all day today, but managed to eat a good breakfast (his famous scrambled eggs) and a full lunch – though we decided to stay at home for lunch rather than going to our favourite pub as we had originally planned, since we were both feeling well below par. […]
