There were three of us oesophageal cancer patients out of the four on the ward, and the other two were first timers. I found myself telling them about a typical visit to the hospital for chemotherapy, and thought it might be of wider interest. The information in this post is specific to me, so please [...]
I didn’t expect to be writing this from my hospital bed1 as I had hoped to be here tomorrow, but an urgent phone call from the ward sister led to my early arrival in the ward. A funny end to a funny week.
Things were going rather well at the beginning of the week. The sickness [...]
Since the last status report most of the things I reported as a downside have improved, which is pleasing. The biggest problem was that I was being sick most mornings, and things got much worse on Monday morning. I was prescribed Cyclizine instead of Metoclopramide, which helped a little, and then on Wednesday at my [...]
Sally was my mother. Today would have been her 68th birthday, but she died in July 1992 of complications from cancer. She hated the cold, and loved the warmth of Kenya. I was reminded quite how much she liked the heat when my father sent me some snaps he had of the time when we [...]
purdah, n, esp. formerly, in Hindu and Muslim communities, the seclusion of women from the sight of strangers. [Chambers]
Chemotherapy drugs are very powerful. Not only do they attack the cancer, which is good, but they also attack the entire body, including the immune system. The doctors told us that it’s very important to keep a [...]
The day that I started my chemotherapy, it was clear that the person in the next bed, who I’ll call PNB for anonymity, had been having a rough day. He had needed a lot of care, and was clearly in some distress. But towards the evening, things seemed a little more comfortable and by the [...]
Just a short note to say that my starting chemo was trumped by emergency cases, so I won’t be going in until tomorrow.
Not so bad, really, as they still have to insert the PICC line, and that can’t happen before tomorrow anyway, but not a little frustrating.
More news as and when…
Into hospital early today, without food or drink, for the fitting of a stent into my bile duct, and hence curing the obstructive jaundice.
As we guessed, the duct was blocked by an enlarged lymph node. The upside was that it was possible to use a stent to cure it. The downside is that now the [...]
Just over three months ago I was made redundant (laid off; bought out, whatever). I had been working for my company for nearly 18 years, and as it was an ex-civil service organisation the redundancy terms were excellent. I was given enough money to give me three years at my current standard of living to [...]
They say you should always start a story in the middle, and boy did this one start that way!
I was initially diagnosed with oesophageal cancer on 14 December 2009. But it took over four months from the time I first noticed something wrong until I got the diagnosis. I’ll tell that story today, then I’ll [...]
