A long overdue update........
Happy Christmas everyone!
It's been an absolute age since I posted, so I wanted to write to let everyone know that I'm still alive and kicking :-)
Today was 2 years from my first chemo, so it felt like it was probably time to give you all an update.
The summer was great. After Kos we had a long weekend in Copenhagen which was great fun. All paid for courtesy of my airmiles as I've been doing so much travel over the summer.We did Tivoli, design museum, a fantastic science museum, lots of walking around, the Little Mermaid (a lot smaller than you would think) and just generally had some fun as a family. Briony was fab and walked miles and miles without any complaints.
We've also now got planning permission for the work we want to do on our house, which is exciting and somewhat scary all at the same time. We've no idea how much it is going to cost (other than obviously more than we have!), but we are starting to think about what needs to happen and the order that everything needs to happen in. We've also had a log burner fitted which is an absolute God send in this cold weather!
Health wise, things continue to go pretty well. My slow dissection continues and I've now had my ovaries and fallopian tubes out. This wasn't anywhere near as bad as I thought it would be. I was off work for a couple of weeks, but the pain wasn't that bad and the side effects have been no different to what they were when I was on the drugs that do the same thing. The best thing about it all was that they gave me some fentanyl before I was put under - I can completely understand why there is a big issue with it and people abuse it! It was like going from sober to a very happy drunk in about 30 seconds flat and you can feel it happening to you in slow motion. I discussion with a friend who is an anaesthetist said that they either liked me or felt sorry for me because they don't normally do this. Either way I'll take it!
When I came round and was back in my room the surgeon who had operated on me came to see me. The first thing she did was showed me pictures on my insides which was a little odd! Because it is keyhole surgery they use cameras and take a load of pictures which I now have copies of. Your insides are not particularly pretty! I now am the proud owner of pictures of my liver, uterus (still intact) and various different pictures of the stages of them removing my ovaries and fallopian tubes. The other thing she said was that I would probably bruise fairly badly as they had to fight to get past my stomach muscles! Hilary (my personal trainer) was justifiably proud of me!
I'm about to start cycle 9 of my neratinib, so I'm now three quarters of the way there. I had to stop it for a month around the surgery and then start again, which everyone thought would cause more side effects, but again I have been very fortunate and sailed through.
Work is great and I have been travelling lots. Hopefully next year will be a little quieter. One odd moment was when I was in London and decided to walk through Regent's Park to my meeting rather than getting on the tube. It was the first time I had been in the park since the day I found the spot that would lead to my diagnosis and a flood of emotions took me by surprise. I had to sit down on a bench and compose myself. It doesn't happen often these days, but when it does it is still quite powerful.
I also did a talk at work for Maggie's - a support charity that does amazing work for patients and their families. It was about considerations of living with cancer and returning to work after a diagnosis of cancer. I felt very vulnerable as it was the first time I had revealed my diagnosis publicly at work, but I'm glad I did it and have had some fabulous comments from those who were there about my journey.
Those of you who have been with me from the beginning will remember that when I was first diagnosed we were due to take Briony to Lapland, which we ended up having to cancel because the medical care wasn't close enough. I promised faithfully that I would take Briony back one day. She doesn't know it yet but we go in a week or so's time. I can't wait to see her face when we tell her!
For those of you just starting down this road, life does get better. It will never be the same, but does it get better and things do return to almost normal.
It's been an absolute age since I posted, so I wanted to write to let everyone know that I'm still alive and kicking :-)
Today was 2 years from my first chemo, so it felt like it was probably time to give you all an update.
The summer was great. After Kos we had a long weekend in Copenhagen which was great fun. All paid for courtesy of my airmiles as I've been doing so much travel over the summer.We did Tivoli, design museum, a fantastic science museum, lots of walking around, the Little Mermaid (a lot smaller than you would think) and just generally had some fun as a family. Briony was fab and walked miles and miles without any complaints.
We've also now got planning permission for the work we want to do on our house, which is exciting and somewhat scary all at the same time. We've no idea how much it is going to cost (other than obviously more than we have!), but we are starting to think about what needs to happen and the order that everything needs to happen in. We've also had a log burner fitted which is an absolute God send in this cold weather!
Health wise, things continue to go pretty well. My slow dissection continues and I've now had my ovaries and fallopian tubes out. This wasn't anywhere near as bad as I thought it would be. I was off work for a couple of weeks, but the pain wasn't that bad and the side effects have been no different to what they were when I was on the drugs that do the same thing. The best thing about it all was that they gave me some fentanyl before I was put under - I can completely understand why there is a big issue with it and people abuse it! It was like going from sober to a very happy drunk in about 30 seconds flat and you can feel it happening to you in slow motion. I discussion with a friend who is an anaesthetist said that they either liked me or felt sorry for me because they don't normally do this. Either way I'll take it!
When I came round and was back in my room the surgeon who had operated on me came to see me. The first thing she did was showed me pictures on my insides which was a little odd! Because it is keyhole surgery they use cameras and take a load of pictures which I now have copies of. Your insides are not particularly pretty! I now am the proud owner of pictures of my liver, uterus (still intact) and various different pictures of the stages of them removing my ovaries and fallopian tubes. The other thing she said was that I would probably bruise fairly badly as they had to fight to get past my stomach muscles! Hilary (my personal trainer) was justifiably proud of me!
I'm about to start cycle 9 of my neratinib, so I'm now three quarters of the way there. I had to stop it for a month around the surgery and then start again, which everyone thought would cause more side effects, but again I have been very fortunate and sailed through.
Work is great and I have been travelling lots. Hopefully next year will be a little quieter. One odd moment was when I was in London and decided to walk through Regent's Park to my meeting rather than getting on the tube. It was the first time I had been in the park since the day I found the spot that would lead to my diagnosis and a flood of emotions took me by surprise. I had to sit down on a bench and compose myself. It doesn't happen often these days, but when it does it is still quite powerful.
I also did a talk at work for Maggie's - a support charity that does amazing work for patients and their families. It was about considerations of living with cancer and returning to work after a diagnosis of cancer. I felt very vulnerable as it was the first time I had revealed my diagnosis publicly at work, but I'm glad I did it and have had some fabulous comments from those who were there about my journey.
Those of you who have been with me from the beginning will remember that when I was first diagnosed we were due to take Briony to Lapland, which we ended up having to cancel because the medical care wasn't close enough. I promised faithfully that I would take Briony back one day. She doesn't know it yet but we go in a week or so's time. I can't wait to see her face when we tell her!
For those of you just starting down this road, life does get better. It will never be the same, but does it get better and things do return to almost normal.
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ReplyDeletei am so glad that you are doing so well......
ReplyDelete