Well, I thought it’s been a good couple of weeks since I put an update on. Then I checked and it’s actually been a month since I put a blog up. It’s not that I have lost love for the blog, it’s just I don’t have anything to update you with… Or I didn’t until now.
Things with me haven’t been so bad, I don’t feel any pain at the moment. Kerry, me and Rupert have been doing okay in our isolation station.
Our food deliveries from Grainger Market come every week. Kerry and I do runs to our local Tesco Express. However, I may have told you this in the last blog but I really have stopped going out. Too many times on dog walks people aren’t socially distancing correctly anymore, certainly in my area.
Kerry comes home and tells me what it’s like out in our local (Saltwell) park and that’s bad enough. I can’t imagine what it’s like in a rammed super market or god forbid… public transport.
I play video games. I read news or Warhammer 40k books or I watch TV. I know I joke and say that “I’ve completed Netflix” but I ain’t. There’s loads of stuff out there to watch. Between, Disney+, Amazon Prime and Netflix, I’m covered. You know, I joke, but I actually watched a TV program the other day. You know… TV… The other other other white meat! I actually forget we have Virgin+ and I was appalled that I had to watch adverts, but it was honestly about 30 minutes then it got turned off. I am a happy streamer and downloader thank you very much.
So boredom-wise, it’s not that bad. Sure, I look at the catalog of games I own and don’t want to play any of them. Rather than buying new ones I won’t play. I go back to a very old game I haven’t played in years and I play that, then hours later I find myself back on the game I was bored of.
Overwatch has an event going on at the moment and I have that to enjoy over the next month. Though, I must admit, I have toyed with the idea of playing Fallout 4 again.
Christ, that’d keep me going for months!
Okay, as I feel that a lot of you will be bored of reading about my TV and Videogame patter, I should really get on to telling you about the health part.
So how am I doing I hear you cry?
Okay I guess, I have ballooned in weight, (I know, I know, haven’t we all) but I think I took it too far. I think I can safely say, all the weight I lost in the last year since the cancer is back. I haven’t weighed in at all, I guess I am too frightened to do so.
I’ve eaten what I want, when I want and now it’s time to revert back to a healthier diet. Stop eating crap. Stop making cakes at home because I am bored or because those bananas have started to look spotty.
Pain-wise, as I said earlier, nothing. However I will say that I feel uncomfortable. I may even describe like an itching sensation from the tumour areas. The passing of my bowel has increased although, I would say that it is NOT because of an increase in portion size or frequency of meals as I still only eat twice a day, lunch and dinner and I rarely eat breakfast. Usually when I do, I skip lunch and then eat an earlier dinner, anyways, I digress. Along with the above, I also have a feeling that I haven’t completed the passing of my bowel.
The fact that I am passing more and more worries me and Kerry as this is exactly what it was like last year, this was the catalyst to me going and getting checked out.
I had mentioned it to Kerry, my family and it was suggested that I talk to the oncology team. I may have dragged my feet a little with this, I could have called Friday of last week but I sent a text message to my oncologist Ian Pedley this morning. A quick message saying “Hiya, I’m alive, no pain but things don’t feel right, could do with talking to you etc”
I sent him the message at 07:30 this morning and I got a reply back within 10 minutes saying that he’d call me later in the day and I replied to say “thanks”
So….
At 09:00 this morning Dr Pedley called me (Now that’s service) and we had a 10 minute chat.
He’s not concerned concerned… but he is concerned.
The irritation of a bowel hit by radiotherapy can even happen months after treatment. If you remember that because of COVID-19 I cancelled an MRI scan because I wasn’t going to be having surgery any time soon, I saw it as a super high risk.
Well, now Dr Pedley thinks that it is time to get re-scanned. It could be nothing, however, it’s best to check. Although the frequency and sensation of not completing the passing of the bowel in full can be a warning sign, again, it could be the backlash of the radiotherapy. He also thinks that it would be best to have a look at the lungs too with a CT Scan.
He assured me that the scans will be performed at the Nuffield Hospital in Newcastle. Pretty much the way it works is that you will find the hospital very empty, most people stay with their cars until it’s time for the appointments. However, I guess I will have to have contrast dyes with the X-rays so perhaps I will have to go in earlier.
Dr Pedley (Like me) is under no illusions that COVID-19 is here to stay. He did say that it is likely that cancer operations may begin again soon, albeit not in the same numbers as before.
We talked about isolating and me doing everything I can to prevent bringing it into the home etc and my concerns about going to the hospital.
So, all in all. Good! I feel like some progress can be made, I feel I am not wasting anyone’s time and I did the right thing in contacting him. I checked my diary, I hadn’t actually spoken to him in just under two months. Short of a quick text message to say all was well etc.
So that’s all I have for an update. I sincerely hope that you and yours are all doing well. I am for the most part… Okay I guess.
Keep safe,
Cam
An honest blog about a guy's journey through cancer and chemotherapy 