Hi Everyone,
As always, I am sure I begin most blogs with the same but I’m sorry for the lack of update, It’s been a myriad of reasons this time but I was absolutely slain by Treatment #8 of this current cycle and our computers were packed up for the move to our new home. Much as I could have tethered my iPad to my iPhone and blogged there. I much prefer to sit at a computer to blog.
I am happy to report that I am feeling much better now that I’ve have had time to recover from treatment 8 and come Monday, I’m ready for bloods for treatment 9 on Wednesday.
I’ve just been thinking, I have 4 more treatments on this cycle and although I had that “break” for an extra couple of weeks I am thinking that, I am already back to where I was before.
Mentally, I am in a much better place, but physically…I’m just exhausted.
One thing is for sure, this heat is 100% *not* helping.
I guess I have always struggled with the heat, anyone in my family will tell you that. Heat stroke, prickly heat, you name it. I’ll suffer it. Kerry is so used to it and just gets on with it. However, I’ll be searching out the shade or collapsing somewhere lol.
The soft tissue bleeding has started already from chemo, I think that it was similar when I started on treatment’s 1-6 too so it’s no great surprise. It seems to set in about 2-3 days after disconnection. I really have to take care when brushing my teeth, blowing my nose and using the bathroom. Usually the latter is when I notice that it’s kicking in.
Though I have rarely suffered sickness and diarrhea on Folfox, I have really suffered on treatment 8. I am my own worst enemy to be honest, I haven’t been using the loperamide correctly. I keep thinking, “Nah it’ll pass” whereas I should be taking it at the first sight of problems and keep taking it until there isn’t a single problem left.
The same goes for the metoclopramide too, I don’t know why I have allowed myself to suffer because it does make you miserable. I mean that’s it really, that’s what it makes you. So I’ve made myself a promise for this coming treatment, at the first signs of an issue I am going to use the medication.
While we are on the subject, since probably treatment 4 I have been suffering with my bowel quite badly, I need to know at all times that I have access to a bathroom, wherever I am going at the moment, (Like I get out much) but especially if there is food involved. It’s inconsistent but you don’t want to be caught out I can tell you.
However, this is a new trend, that whenever I eat. It isn’t very much longer but I find I am in dire need of the bathroom. I don’t get much warning anymore, my want to use the bathroom seems to go come 0-10 rapidly. Again, something I think need to speak with Dr Pedley about when next we speak.
Thankfully, the headaches haven’t been so bad on treatments 7 and 8 and long may that continue please. However, other than that. It’s really all I have to report on the chemo front.
Now, in other news and the title of the blog alludes to. Kerry and I have moved to our forever home.
It’s in Wallsend in Newcastle, we’re the last house in our peaceful little cul de sac. We’ve met our neighbours and they even helped Kerry unpack a couple of van trips which was a great help.
As you can probably imagine, I have been about as much use as a chocolate teapot with the house move. I even discussed with Kerry that I should have postponed restarting chemotherapy further so I would have been able to help, however as I will explain, there has been absolutely no time scale with this house move, it’s been nothing but last minute but really. How much help would I actually have been? It’s not like 4 weeks off chemo returned me to full working order again. I still get knackered walking up 1 flight of stairs. I may have mentioned this already, but our offer in on the house was accepted back in December. We have had the longest purchase, everything that could delay us, did delay us.
But, we fell in love with the house and there was absolutely nothing on the market that was even close to the property size, and features and that had double garage for Kerry to convert to her dream home gym. So when it came to hearing about the next delay or hurdle we just went along with it.
So how come it took until bloody July I hear you cry?
Well, it was a mixture of the vendor’s onwards purchase falling through, they were progressing along nicely and their vendor just pulled the house off the market. They contacted us in tears asking if they could delay and we stood by them and said we could. We had already fallen for the house and if we were to start looking for a new house to purchase, it wouldn’t go through any quicker. We still checked the market and in the 3 months since putting in the offer, there was nothing that had come to market, even with a now bigger deposit we had amassed and therefore looking at slightly more expensive houses couldn’t even convince us to change our minds.
Then the further delays were honestly down to our vendors solicitors being utterly useless. The previous owners were purchasing the freehold of the property so we could buy it as freehold, the solar panels on the roof were a ball ache too.
At one point the previous owners ended up screaming down the phone at their solicitors to get things moving, which did actually work. However, our mortgage offer expiration date was coming and we were cutting it fine.
We were preparing to contact the mortgage company and request an extension but in the 11th bloody hour we finally completed…on our mortgage expiration day.
You can’t make this shit up.
Now, because of the final hour crap, we were completely unable to book any removals company. We had contacted a few, Pickfords, Gallaghers etc but they didn’t have any availability till the end of July. We didn’t want to wait so Kerry and I elected to do the move ourselves.
…and by ourselves, I of course mean…
Kerry did it…
All of it…
By herself!
Now before you all rush in and say, “Why didn’t you ask? We could have XYZ…”
You couldn’t have really, I’m immunocompromised, I really shouldn’t be around people. Also, we couldn’t give any of you, any notice, at all. It really was a case of… “Holy shit, this is happening.”
We called Enterprise Rent-a-car and got a medium sized van for 24 hours. Now…couple of things here:-
- LOL that we thought we could do it all in 24 hours.
- Kerry has never driven a van before.
- OmegaLOL that we thought we could do it all in 24 hours.
Kerry was……………….. absolutely fine. It’d be nice if the van had rear facing camera or parking radar like our car does. Actually, it’d be nice if it had decent mirrors on it, what with it not having a rear mirror you’d think it would have decent wing mirrors but nope. Vauxhall Vivaro mirrors are no bigger than car mirrors. I think Kerry was used to the clutch by the time we were out of team valley. She actually began to like the driving position and parts of van life.
She really impressed me and I couldn’t be more proud.
In the days leading up to this, we had been shoving stuff into boxes, suitcases, when boxes ran out, bin liners for clothes and stuff.
Our old place was an upstairs flat this meant that every single trip from the house to the van was a flight of stairs.
Kerry was more concerned of the charvas/chavs/bogans of Gateshead helping themselves to things out of the van as she was packing it, she sat me in the car facing the van so she could leave the doors open as she was making trips back and forth. Can’t say I’ll ever miss that side of Gateshead if I am honest.
When you live somewhere for 15 years, you do accumulate a lot of stuff but Kerry and I have been ruthless in not bringing a single item over we didn’t agree on. We have disposed a lot of crap before we moved. Trips to the tip etc. We also decided to bin a lot of our furniture too. Things like wardrobes, chests of drawers, the couches are all for the tip.
Kerry wanted all new at our new house and although we have now made arrangements for this, the last minute-ness of the house sale going through meant that we couldn’t order the new furniture ahead of time to be delivered for around the time we would be moving.
NO….that would have helped but alas, it wasn’t to be. So while yes, we have our bed, we have boxes for bedside tables. Suitcases for chests of drawers. I kept my computer desk but Kerry was lucky to get her new desk rush ordered and that resolved that. We have two ABSOLUTELY HUGE Big Bertha bean bags in our living room right now. They’re for the gaming room down the line when our couch and chairs are delivered. However, watching TV in them is brilliant.
Getting out of them as a rotund 40-something… Well as you can imagine. There’s a lot of grunting.
So, the dining room, the living room and bedroom furniture will all be delivered in the coming months. It’s amazing to think we’ve been in for a near month already. It’ll be no time at all before the rest of the furniture gets here. It’s not bothering either of us. So we just wait.
The move has really helped me mentally. I’ve already had a whole chemo fortnight at the new place and I can tell you already that it’s easier to deal with in a light an airy home, rather than in a dark and dingy flat. I can even have Rupert around me during chemo which is another thing that didn’t make any sense at the old place. He still needs to go away for small parts, especially when the nurses are coming at me with needles etc
They get sanitised and then Rupert runs his tongue down the entire length of their arm/hand… You can see where I am going with this.
Actually, speaking of Rupert. The house has had an amazing effect on him too. He’s so adjusted to this place now, I think we was very confused in the beginning. He has windows he can look out of now. In the flat, yes you can look out of the windows but to what? The street facing you or the sky I guess? He loves the garden and just sunbathing outside and seems to have gone completely DEAF when he’s being called in to the house which is strange non?
Lil s**t!
But there we go, I’ll leave it there for now. I am setup now that I can get a more frequent blog out now.
Thanks for reading
-Cam
An honest blog about a guy's journey through cancer and chemotherapy 