In the words of Jimi Hendrix at the Isle Of Wight. “Yeah … Thank you very much for showing up, man, you all look really beautiful and outta sight … And thanks for waiting. It has been a long time, hasn’t it? … That does mean peace not this … Peace … OK give us about a minute to tune up, all right? Give us about a minute”
Although only 8 of those words are relevant in this case.
The chemo has been a bit of a tinker to say the least! When I last posted, I was in a state of shock as to how bad it had affected me. Sadly the last two doses faired no better.
The reason that I have not updated the blog for ages is because I have not had the energy to do so. Everything is an effort.
Even now I have numb fingers and feet, my eyes are sore and water a lot (due to most of my eyelashes falling out) I am often tired and find it hard to walk very far and I have a pain in both of my legs.
Still, it is all for the best and will soon be over.
As I have said before, if it is doing that to my body, it must be kicking the ass out of the cancer (if it stupid enough to still be there).
The change in my appearance has been rather drastic in the last two months. Before, I could get away with saying that I has shaved me head but not any more. Its a shame that Hammer have stopped making horror films, I reckon I could have got a job there.
At least the Chemo is now over and next up is Radiotherapy starting next week.
It has not all been bad news. On the plus side, I have read a hell of a lot of books and I have appeared as a model on the catwalk.
“On Wednesday 3 October 22 women and 2 men took to the catwalk in the Great Room of the Grosvenor House, A JW Marriott Hotel in London. Supported by friends, family, corporate partners and celebrity guests, they demonstrated that it is possible to look good and feel great after a breast cancer diagnosis”.
More about it here, including a video clip with highlights of The Show CLICK HERE
I must just mention the other models. We first met in April and have been chatting over Facebook and have met up a couple of times, but it feels as if we have known each other for years. We support each other with our various problems and celebrate each others good news. There is so much love and understanding that we give each other. I guess it is because we have all been through similar experiences that we have bonded in a way that others cannot understand. In fact SJ said that she could see and feel the bond when she saw us all at The Show. Friends for life!
All 23 of them are heroes of mine.
Here are pen pics of them all from The Show programme
When I started this blog at the beginning of the year, there were 300 men a year diagnosed with breast cancer in the previous year. The figure has now soared to 370. That is a massive leap and a worrying rise. Yet more reason to raise awareness to men about breast cancer.
Thanks to this blog, I have made many new friends and contacts. I recently had an article in the Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/doug-harper/men-breast-cancer_b_1911838.html and was contacted by Charles Pelkey who wrote an article in the Huff (is that what we call it?) on his experiences of BC in the USA. It is well worth a read.
I am sure I had more to say in this post, but I am not really feeling that inspirational at the moment and I wanted to get this out there before I started Radiotherapy.
Hopefully the next post will not be as long in coming as this one
Love peace and a Ronco Buttoneer
Doug
XX