Cancer

26/12/15

As some of you know I’ve been having tests at the Royal Berkshire Hospital over the past few weeks. My voice has been knackered since early in the year, & like a typical man I ignored the obvious, & ignored the nagging of my family & friends.

I eventually bowed to the pressure & paid a visit to my friendly GP. He immediately put me onto the 2 Week Pathway which involved a CT Scan & a Biopsy. The Biopsy all went a bit pear shaped as I reacted badly to the General Anaesthetic, had a cardiac arrest , “Died” for around 10 seconds apparently before CPR brought me back. Obviously I knew nothing about that episode, & frankly when the surgeon was explaining this to me I was still away with the fairies, so it fell to my wonderful wife to take the phone call at home explaining what had happened J 

On Christmas Eve we had an appointment to get the results of the Biopsy. The news wasn’t great. I’ve been diagnosed with a T2 Cancer of the Throat, which when you consider the lifestyle choices I’ve made over the years, isn’t the biggest surprise in the world. The prognosis is good. The surgeon has advised I have a 85% + chance of making a full recovery. I’ll be undergoing Radiotherapy at the beginning of January. This will involve 6 weeks of treatment, 5 days a week at RBH. Radiotherapy is not as invasive as Chemotherapy, but there are still side effect of tiredness, loss of appetite & to a degree, sickness. During the treatment I’ll have to abstain totally from alcohol. It goes without saying that cigarettes are now well & truly a part of my history. The upside is whilst I’m having the treatment I can blast out music from my iPod at maximum volume to allow me to “Relax”. If you happen to be walking down the London Road by the RBH & you hear Fish / Marillion / ACDC / Aerosmith etc blaring out then you’ll know I’m having treatment! J

Carol & I thought long & hard about how to explain the situation to Anna & Max. Originally we were going to wait until after the festivities, however that didn’t seem fair to them. So, with typical Clark tact it was a case of “Kids, have a seat, by the way I’ve got Cancer, Happy Christmas, Ho, Ho, Ho”. Tears & questions, but I should have known how stoic the pair of them would be. I’ve already made the commitment to Max that I’ll be on the pitch with him on Boxing Day 2016 (A 2 minute cameo is what I have in mind!). We had an absolute blast on Christmas Day. 6 for dinner. Sat down at 2.30 & left the dining room again at 10pm. No TV, no naps, just good conversation (& in Anna’s case, copious amounts of booze!)

Having a quick look through my FB friends I can see people I know from school, from early days at Sec Pac, Avco, Santander & of course the wider rugby community. I intend to be back at work as soon as I possibly can be. I intend to continue to be up at OBR as long as I feel well enough, albeit the club profits may dip somewhat if I’m on lemonade on a match day J I intend to continue to take photographs. I intend to be in Arillas in July with Carol

A few close friends have been aware of the challenge for a few days before this post went up. One of them who’s opinion & council I value gave me very wise words, he said “Shoulder to shoulder” that will be my mantra for 2016.

Finally, this isn’t posted to elicit sympathy. This is posted to let my friends know I value their friendship & if you’ve got a nagging cough / pain / ache then for fecks sake get it looked at!

29/12/15

I’d like to thank everyone for their support & messages since my post on Boxing Day. To say that I’m overwhelmed would be an understatement.

The support I’m also getting from the Clinical Nurse Specialists at RBH is amazing. They emailed me the “Timeline” for treatment today & called to confirm I’d got it, answer any questions I had & generally put my mind at ease. They also said I needed another blood test, so it confirms that most nurses have a sadistic side to them.

I’ll have a fitting for my mask next week, along with a further Biopsy on my neck, depending on those results I may need to have Chemotherapy as well as Radiotherapy. Sounds like the full treatment will start mid to late January once the physics Dept. have done their calculations.

It was suggested by a couple of folk that I post updates, be them good news or bad news, it can apparently be cathartic to open up, so you’ve been warned.

I’ve a date with a mate tomorrow night for a couple of pints. Then on New Years Eve we have our usual gathering which apparently involves cocktails amongst other delights. After that I’ll be dry until I’m given the all clear. So if you happen to see me at OBR on Saturday for the Old Albanians match I’ll have a Coke please!

Finally, massive thanks to Carol, Anna & Max as always.

To be continued……………

5/1/16

Quite an eventful period since my last update. A good New Years Eve was spent with close friends, my last drink for a while was taken at around 2am on 1^st January. I choose a rather nice Cognac to finish with. If I’m honest I was drinking far too much, a few more years of the same consumption would have had serious repercussions on my health. The side effects on my body of quitting booze have been fairly unpleasant & I won’t go into them all on a family website. The worst time is around 6.30pm when I’m preparing dinner, that glass of white is being missed. Whether I start drinking again when I can is open to debate. But I’ll certainly not let drink dictate to me again. At the time of writing I’m a week “Dry” & feel a lot better in myself.

Saturday was an emotional day for me. It was the first time back at OBR since the news of my illness became public. The support & good wishes from everybody I met was truly overwhelming. I’m glad that Carol & the kids were up at the club as I needed a private hug a couple of times, along with the muddy hugs from players who’ll remain nameless!  I also had my first experiment of “Drink of Choice” I can confirm it isn’t Coke, 3 cans were 2 too many! I think I’ll stick to Ginger beer whilst I can still have something vaguely spicy. Sunday was another challenge, meeting the parents of the Colts, some of whom I’ve known for 10 years or so. Again to a man they were brilliant. The match was god awful though. There’s a lot of talk about the “Rugby Family”, well I can assure you it’s true.

On Monday I saw my GP who originally referred me to the hospital. He was great & offered an awful lot of good advice as to how my body is likely to react to the upcoming treatment. He’s suggested I call him at any time if I need to ask any questions, which I really appreciate.

Tuesday morning was spent at RBH having around a dozen needles stuck into my neck for a further biopsy on lymph glands. The Dr. is a member at Marlow RFC, his son is in their U17s. I wonder if me wearing a Rams polo made him less gentle than normal? The process has left me with a very sore neck, but I guess this is something I’m going to have to get used to over the next couple of months.

A good friend who has been through cancer & came out the other side advised me that there would be good days & there would be bad days, & not to bottle the bad days up! Well Thursday WAS A BAD DAY. I was called by RBH in the afternoon asking if I was free to go in & see the consultant that afternoon to discuss the results of the tests I’d had done on Tuesday. Well it obviously wasn’t going to be good news, a thought confirmed when instead of the usual 1 hour of hanging around I was taken straight into see her. It appears that the Lymph nodules tested on Tuesday have proved to be inconclusive. This means that as well as having Radiotherapy I will now also be having a weekly course of Chemotherapy. Not what I wanted to hear, but by all accounts my hair won’t fall out (What’s left of my hair that is). The treatment has been brought forward to 18^th January, 5 days a week for 6 weeks. The Consultant did say that the course of treatment was only her recommendation & that I didn’t have to take it. I suggested that as she was the expert I’d be a bit of a plank to ignore her!! A good 20 minute chat to my wonderful CNS (Clinical Nurse Specialist) helped ease my mind somewhat. Especially when she mentioned that the plan of action was still to cure me! Phew, they’re not giving up on me yet then. The after effects of the treatment will be worse having both Chemo & Radio. They will also come on quicker than the original plan. It’s likely that I’ll struggle to eat properly after a couple of weeks. I’ve already planned to make a shed load of soup next week to stick in the freezer. It will be a case of eating small amounts whenever I can rather than having 3 set meals a day. Cream, butter, fats are all recommended food stuff, another upside I guess. Next week I’ll be spending a couple of days in hospital having kidney tests ahead of the Chemo starting, sound like it’ll be boring rather than painful. I’ll make sure my Kindle is fully loaded with books & my iPod is fully charged!

If Thursday was a bad day, then Friday was a GOOD DAY. I had an early appointment with the planning team in Radiotherapy, no waiting around at all, straight into the procedures. Another blood test (I think I’m running out in my veins) & a cannula fitted for the CTA scan later in the day. Then it was onto the exciting part of having my mask fitted. This will keep me in exactly the same place each time I go for a treatment & is critical to the process. I’d read up on the procedure for fitting the mask prior to attending, the thought that came to mind was it sounded a bit like Water Boarding, however in the end it was actually quite a pleasant experience, almost soothing. Once it had set it was off for yet another CT Scan, but this time wearing my Gimp mask (& yes I do get to keep it after the treatment has finished). The final process of the day was to give me a tiny tattoo on the centre of my chest to allow the lasers to align in the exact position each time. So I can now say I’m inked after 53 years. I’ve made a mental note to make sure I take my own music in when I’m having the treatment, today I was subjected to Phil Collins!!!!!!!!!!!

It’s seemed like a long week & I’m looking forward to my Steak & Black Pudding Sweeney pie this evening & having a bit of a rest over the weekend. It all starts again on Monday……………….

Finally, if you’ve read this far then thank you. Thank you also to the wonderful staff at RBH & my family who as always are brilliant.

To be continued…………………

#Shouldertoshoulder

11/1/16

A long day at the hospital today as I had to have tests on my kidney function ahead of starting Chemo next week. One injection of something or other, followed by 4 blood tests to see if my kidneys were getting rid of the poison. One thing I noticed today whilst I was waiting around was that I’m one of the youngest people being treated, or certainly one of the youngest I’ve seen on my various visits. My CNS Nurse mentioned today that one of the reasons the prognosis for me is good is that I’m still young! Well that made a 53 year old laugh. The last time I spent any major time going to and fro from RBH was about 6 years ago when the playground bully, AKA Giles Perry, broke my hand at rugby training. At that time I questioned the Dr. as to why I needed to have my hand in plaster for 6 weeks, his reply was “Well Mr Clark, at your age it takes longer for the bones to heal” The positives today? Well I get free drugs for the next 5 years, & I’ve a parking permit for the hospital car park as from next Monday, that’ll save me a fortune so long as I can find a space.

It’s great the amount of “Love” I’m feeling from my friends at this tough time, but I can’t & won’t forget the pressure that Carol and the kids must be feeling. On a day when the world lost a major icon, I can safely say that my family are my “Heroes”.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGOx0ZpMrrU

More to follow…………………..

#shouldertoshoulder

14/1/16

A fairly quiet week on the hospital front, just Mondays fun & games & a load of  blood tests. I was told to try & put on some weight before I start my treatment next week, happy to report that I’ve managed to put on 5kg this week. 3 full meals a day seems to have done the job. The trick is now not to lose the weight again. Apparently anything over a 5% weight loss is considered a worry, so it’ll be a case of eating a little but often. Chocolate, cream, bread, eggs & loads of milk. I may see if I can get milk on tap at OBR. Carol & I are going to go out for dinner on Friday evening, probably the last chance we’ll get for a few months. I’m not sure how I’m going to explain to Mr Nino that I can’t order the bottle of Amarone that we normally have………… having said that, I suppose Carol could neck the bottle by herself.

I was chatting to our dear friend Ioanna in Corfu earlier this week. When we were over in July last year she was badgering me to go to the Dr’s about my voice. She’s promised she’ll start using a Vape rather than a cigarette, we’ll see when we go over in June, all being well. 10 days of sun, sand, sea & Saganaki could be just what the Dr ordered. Shame the kids won’t be able to come with us, a real shame…………..

The forecast this weekend is cold but bright, so I intend to get as many shots of both Rams & Rams Colts as I can. I’m not sure I’ll feel up to it again in two weeks time.