Life continues in blissful normality....radiotherapy Eve

After a fairly shocking week last week, I'm pleased to report that this week has been a very different week.

It's been half-term for Briony's school, so I have spent the week on a little bit of a tour of duty, which Briony has enjoyed immensely, as have I! People have also been very generous in driving me around various locations, as I still can't manage more than about an hour of driving at any one time as I just get too tired. We had a couple of days in Essex with my Aunt and cousin and then a couple of days in Suffolk with my Dad and Step-Mum. Although I grew up not far from where they currently live we went to some lovely places, some old, some new and there were lots of memories which made me fairly wistful! Thank you to all involved.

The week was rudely interrupted by my 2 remaining antibody infusions on Wednesday of this week. Dad came with me this week for logistical reasons to help with the trip from Essex to High Wycombe. Although no parent should ever see their child being infused with these type of drugs, I have to say that I was relieved when the drug I had fought to continue was coursing through my veins. A small victory.

Also on Wednesday I had a GP appointment to start the anastrazole and Zoladex which are now necessary to boot me firmly into instant menopause. This is because my tumour is strongly sensitive to oestrogen so we have to rid my body of it as much as possible. The Zoladex is a monthly injection with a relatively large needle given by the practice nurse (trying to get an appointment is nigh on impossible), so not ideal; anastrazole is a tablet that I will need to take for 10 years. Because of this and my Coeliac disease I also need a bone scan as a baseline to check my bone density and see what effect being booted into menopause has as this is one of the risks of inducing early menopause, with the Coeliac disease also causing issues in this area.

I have to say that it is fairly complicated to navigate your way through all the various different appointments and requirements. To give you an example, I am currently coordinating daily radiotherapy, 3 weekly antibody infusions, now monthly Zoladex injections and repeat prescription of anastrazole, 3 monthly heart scans (one falls this month), oncologist appointments and gastroenterology follow-up appointments. It feels like I am on the phone pretty much daily to the insurance company with a list of things to sort. How anyone manages to work through all of this is just a mystery to me and I take my hat off to you.

My scar from surgery is looking pretty good given I am still only 3 weeks post surgery and I have been careful to moisturise it every day as advised by the surgeon. More troubling is the cording that I am still struggling with. I have limited movement of my left arm despite doing all the exercises that I have been given. If it continues, I may book in for some physiotherapy to see if this will give me a wider range of movement, as it is very irritating. At least the seromas seem to have resolved and I am left with just a small bump with a little bit of fluid which is slowly dispersing.

I'm pleased to say that my issues with diarrhoea have resolved almost completely with the introduction of a strict gluten free diet. This has made an enormous difference to my overall state of both physical and mental health, as it was the last straw in terms of quality of life and being able to cope with everything. I am slowly putting the weight I lost back on as well, which is a relief. Again, something I thought I would never say!

So tomorrow we enter a new phase with radiotherapy beginning. This is every day for the next 3 weeks. The appointment is only 20 minutes, but the machine is located in Oxford, which means I need to travel there every day which is a 2 hour round trip in itself. I'm lucky because I am still being treated under my private health policy, which means the luxury of a taxi service to and from the hospital, which will really help on a number of different levels. I've spoken to a number of different people about radiotherapy. Some say it was the easiest part of the treatment, others felt it was the worse, so we have the full spectrum of possibilities to consider! I wonder where I will fall on this? Time will tell.

I'm also going back to the personal trainer last week, which I am really looking forward to. I haven't been able to go since my first surgery on 24th April and I have missed it. It has helped me feel normal and also deal with the physical and mental aspects of all of this. Hilary, don't be too hard on me!