Are We There Yet?

Well, there it is, I’ve, at last, completed my cancer treatment. Afraid, it wasn't a case of time flies when you’re enjoying it! It was the longest and most difficult six weeks I’ve ever had to face in my life. 

I know in previous blogs I’ve gone on a bit of how tough it’s been but unless you’ve gone through it, you just don't appreciate what’s involved and how you and your body will react and respond to it. I shared my experiences with many of my brave fellow patients I met at The Beatson who all echoed the same. Nothing prepares you for it.

I’m not going to bang-on or brag about my treatment but one bit of advice I would give is if you ever have the misfortune of having to undergo cancer treatment then do try to speak or link up with someone who has. They will have a better understanding than anyone within your family and friends of what you’re going though. Just knowing that what you’re feeling is normal can be tremendously re-assuring & encouraging. Also do make use of the various support groups - MacMillan, Beatson Charity, Maggies - that are available. I know It is hard, at the start, to acknowledge and talk about what's happening to you esp. to a stranger but once you do, a weight’s taken off your shoulders and you find another team of people there to help you when you need them.

Whilst getting to this stage seems a great achievement I’m actually only part way through the journey. I’ve got another 4 to 6 weeks recovery followed by a further scan later in the year to find out if the treatment’s been successful.

I had hoped that the last couple of weeks of treatment would be incident free as I was only having daily RT. Unfortunately, this didn't quiet work out that way as I had an unexpected 3 day stay back at The Beatson. The pain from the treatment was getting so severe that I was unable to swallow and consequently eat. I went in with the possibility of getting fitted with a feeding tube however we managed to avoid that by increasing the level of my pain-killers. Now on a daily dose of morphine which has helped to keep things in check and allow me to eat. Working ok so far.

I also had a blood transfusion when I was in as they found out I was slightly anaemic — again, another side effect.

First week of recovery now over and, it’s fair to say, I haven't felt as if I’ve recovered or even started to. If anything, the pain, at times, has been worse than during treatment. I was warned that things could get worse for the first couple of weeks as a result of the build up RT in my system over the 6 week period starting to work its way out. The one good thing about this is that it’s still working to fight the tumour, as well, so I shouldn't be that ungrateful.

At the end of the treatment, my team seemed happy with my progress which is a positive even if I felt like s***e!

So what’s next? Well, I will hopefully recover, get back to some sort of normality,  and try and enjoy a wee bit of whatever summer we get. Will also try to catch up with all the friends who have supported me over the piece — because of all the side-effects, issues, etc I haven't been able to see or speak with many of them. Won’t worry about what might or might not be awaiting me in later months. No point, I can’t control it and whatever it is we’ll deal with it then.

I’ve enjoyed writing the blog — has made me think a lot more about me as a person on various levels — and hopefully you’ve enjoyed reading it. I’ll continue to update it and share with you how and where the rest of the journey’s going. In the meantime, thanks for all your support and encouragement. It helped to got us though some dark times.

Craig & Karen