All Blue Underlined texts are links to other sites and stuff
Do not play if easily offended by cuss words. Warning, it has a chorus to die for!
21st May
Pre cancer I was one of those people that would go out of their way to avoid any mention of the disease, in any media outlet. I did not want to think about it. If I was listening to the radio and cancer was mentioned, I would switch channels. I know that I am not the only person who did/does this. I have always been scared at the thought of cancer, maybe overly so. I am not even sure that I would read this blog! So thank you for reading it and helping me in my task of raising awareness of male breast cancer.
When I left hospital, it was arranged that I would have visits from the District Nurses to change my wound. I was informed that the wound may take up to six weeks to heal (I have decided not to put a picture of the wound up, as it was too gruesome). This was bad news, as I would not be able to have chemo until it was healed. In fact there was a strong chance that chemo would be cancelled. There is an optimum period of three months after the mastectomy when it is decided if there is any merit in having the chemo. It seems that after three months the pros and cons of chemo would be weighed up and the 3 months were indeed up. The thinking being that as (for me) it is for precautionary measures would the risks outweigh the experiences of the treatment?
Let me tell you, dear reader, I still wanted it maaaaan.
On the Friday my old friend ‘the vac’ was once again attached to me. The idea, being that it heals the wound quicker. It is a pain to drag around, but if it does the trick, then go for it.
That night, I got a rash all over my body. Now, I am not one who has ever suffered from insect bites or anything, so I was surprised when it spread all over my body and itched like hell.
That night I could not sleep. I tried various ointments and only Tiger Balm helped and that was only for about ten minutes.
Saturday was Eurovision day. I was sitting in the garden when I felt faint. I struggled to the living room where I all but collapsed and could not move for an hour or so.
I had no idea what was happening to me. Pre cancer etc, I would have shrugged this off, but being ‘ill’ gives new possibilities as to the cause. I was worried that I may have to go back to hospital. I thought that it may have been my body saving me from three and a half hours of Eurovision. Was this myWaterloo? Was I defeated? My my.
I still could not sleep that night, a mixture of watching and listening to 40 odd awful songs, bit mainly thanks to the bloody rash.
Sunday, Sarah rang the emergency doctor. I was really getting pissed off with these random type illnesses. We both thought that I would have to spend the boiling hot day in A&E, with the added bonus of being admitted once again. I know I have mentioned this before, but I cannot stress how you take being well, for granted. My health has always been fine in for my adult life and any illness was brushed aside, as nothing much (which it never was). Now, the slightest thing had me thinking of another stay in hospital.
The doctor rang back after about 10 minutes (the swiftness no doubt a sign of me having cancer) and suggested that it was probably an allergic reaction to something. He told me to get some antihistamine tablets and lucky enough, the chemist down the road was open on Sundays. I took one and thirty minutes later when the doctor had arrived, the rash had all but gone.
I was on a high for the rest of the day. You really do appreciate things like that when you are ill. It felt like a victory against this bastard disease.
I learned to live with the vac. I hosted the Plumstead Make Merry and hid the tubing with the goo going around it, down my trousers. If the comma in that sentence was in the wrong place, it could have been embarrassing.
It was cumbersome but it came along with me to see In The Night Garden at The O2.
The day of reckoning came on 20th June. This was the day when I would find out if I was still to have chemo. I met with Dr Kristeleit and I told him of my concerns of not have chemo. He had told me before that without chemo, I would have a life expectancy of at least 60% over 10 years. With chemo it would go up to at least around 80%. When calculating the survival rate (that sounds really dramatic, does it not?) I had not taken into account that as I had been taking Tamoxifen since January that whacked it up to about 73%. I want that percentage as high as it would go. I told the Doctor that I understood that as the chemo was precautionary, but that I was willing to go with it to knock the percentage up even more. Thankfully it was decided that the chemo would go ahead on 5th July. It is great that the medical staff take notice of the opinions of the patient.
The vac was taken off yesterday and I am ready for another episode in this strange year.
Before I go, I must mention this petition….
PROTECT SOUTH LONDON NHS
Three hospitals in South London are in trouble – Queen Mary’s in Sidcup, the Princess Royal in Orpington and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich. It is the government’s job to ensure we have a good NHS to look after us.
There’s a real risk that the politicians and bureaucrats now wrangling over the future of our health services will forget that this is about real people.
This whole debacle is thanks to politicians, most of whom probably go private in any case. This needs to be sorted by the powers that be and sorted quickly, instead of both major parties playing the blame game.
Considering there are a further 22 other NHS Trust that could be in the same boat, this needs to be sorted soon.
The South London NHS Trust has been brilliant to me.
Here is the petition if you fancy signing it.Its still the petition even if you don’t.
To end with, here is an apt tune by our band Steve White And The Protest Family
Love peace and a Toblerone
xx