Cancer

Yes I know it's been a while, but I'm still here and doing fine as far as anyone can tell right now. And yes I did say I would post on here regularly and maybe even promised to do so on a daily basis but things got in the way and it was hard to sit down and write again. But it's time to stop making excuses now and get on with it. Thank you to those who have been checking out my blog recently but finding nothing to read. Will do better in future.

This post will be by way of an update on my cancer (still unnamed) and my treatment so far. My five day stay in hospital turned into two weeks and they sent me home with a colostomy, which was nice of them. They said it was necessary in order to give my other treatment the best chance of success.

I will require five weeks of daily radiotherapy treatment which began two weeks ago on 15th July and will end on Friday 16th August. This is supplemented by a daily dose of chemotherapy in tablet form. I had to stop taking the chemotherapy for two days last week because my white blood cell count dropped to an unacceptable level. I'm now back on it but a lower dose and more frequent blood tests to keep an eye on it. This combination of treatment leaves me feeling extremely tired and all I am promised is that by weeks four and five I will feel tired. So that's something to look forward to. I will need to find another word for the tiredness condition I suppose. Any suggestions?

It's raining here in Edinburgh today after five weeks of the most unexpected but hugely welcome  sunshine. I guess five weeks is as much as we have any right to expect. Must break off now as I need to go to Waitrose to do my week's shopping, which they will deliver for me at 2 pm so long as I've been through their till by 1 pm. Home delivery is required as I'm not allowed to carry anything heavier than a bag of sugar, which I never buy anyway, so what's the use of that. Waitrose deliver for a very small charge and they give me a free Observer to boot so I feel it would be churlish of me not to take advantage of the service.

I'm also not allowed to use a hoover or do anything much that requires too much effort, so if you're passing by and are useful with a hoover, perhaps you could come on up. Otherwise I shall have to employ a cleaner I suppose.

That's me back from shopping and awaiting my pal John B to visit. I think he wants to go look for some books to read. Well yes of course to read, what else would one buy books for?

My life has changed utterly in the past few months and I'm still coming to terms with it all. My plans for this year and next have had to be put aside for now. No more travelling to South America for at least a year. I'm aiming to be on the road again by autumn 2014. The doctors at the hospital have told me to plan for a year of treatment and recuperation. I will have a CT scan six weeks after the end of my radiotherapy and the team will then discuss my case on 3rd October and if all has gone according to plan and the radiotherapy has done it's business I will have an operation, hopefully in October to remove the tumour.

This is not exactly what I would like to be writing about and certainly not what I expected to be doing in 2013. I will write some more about how it's affecting me but that's all for now. This was only meant as an update on my situation for people who don't see me so often. Hope it's not too boring. Will write some more tomorrow. I've not been to the cinema for six weeks and I'm getting withdrawal symptoms. I hope to sort that out soon......