And so it begins
It was with great enthusiasm we looked into the arrival of 2020. After a rather awful year for Linda and not much going on for me, 2020 was starting out really well. Linda settling into a new job and I was getting getting a whole load of web projects to work on.
2020 was going to be a great year!
Just a few days into January it all came tumbling down.
I was diagnosed with throat cancer.
Squamous cell carcinoma of the throat to be precise.
What a difference a year makes What a difference a year makes! Maybe not a day, but a year does change things for the better. May 28th 2020 was my final radiation session, so one year 2 days ago. Last night, because my six monthly examinations are due this coming week, I posted on Facebook…
Progress So Far… I got out of hospital on Sunday evening and was able to make my last two radiation treatments during the following week. It was a huge relief to have the radiation treatment over and done with and assumed the damage being done to my throat and mouth would stop there and then.…
I Had to Stop! And then I stopped….. I had meant to document this procedure the whole way through but I couldn’t do it. Things just got too bad! After week 4 of treatment I lived in a blur of drugs and exhaustion. Increasingly strong doses of Hydrocodone and Acetaminophen kept me doped-up without necessarily…
Awful time, awful, awful Awful times…. I’ve been though some bad times in my life, some awful times in my life and these have lasted various mounts of time but never before have I been through a persistent nightmare such as this treatment. This torment is going on for weeks and it is extremely unpleasant.…
Won’t end soon enough…. Monday beginning treatment Week 4 Not a football score but: Radiation 14 : Chemo 7……… After a rather horrendous weekend I made it through to Monday for another round of radiation and a well-earned Doctor’s visit. I wasn’t able to consume any solid food over the weekend and survived on Boost…
Well and truly over! I was pretty sure that my reaction to treatment was going to get worse and my word, it just did that! (Slight moaning section but please allow me some leeway!) Friday morning, throat like a furnace, tongue swollen up both sides and difficulty speaking. I was sort of expecting this to…
every day’s and endless stream of cigarettes and magazines So what’s it like being a cancer patient? For me it is perhaps still early to tell but every day I learn a bit more and survive a bit better. I’m now 6 Chemotherapy sessions down and 12 Radiation sessions complete so not quite half way…
On with the roller-coaster! I’ve been lax in writing – I must do better!!! It has been a bit of a roller-coaster ride over the last several days, lots of downs but not many ups unfortunately, but I am learning and surviving and the more I learn the better I will survive. I has no…
Week 1 begins, seven weeks to do Week 1 of treatment starts – seven weeks in total to do. Let me just get this out of the way first. Then I can get on with the rest of the stuff. Starting Radiation and Chemotherapy treatment for cancer is frightening! It is scary, stressy, it is…
but where’s the good man? I remember many years ago being on a sailboat in the Irish Sea, having retired from an off-shore race due to equipment failure. We were running before a storm with only a foresail, massive waves on our stern, and heading for shelter behind an island. It was cold, it was…