WEEK 1 OF TREATMENT

Monday 18th

The War has started, the first shots have been fired, there is only going to be one winner!! As Churchill once said “It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." My first session of Radiotherapy on Monday passed off smoothly in the end. The mask felt a bit tight & I was worried when the session was stopped after what felt like 5 minutes, I thought I might have moved too much & we’d have to start again. Well I was wrong, it had been the full 25 minutes & I’d fallen asleep.

Tuesday 19th

Tuesday was more challenging. I was up at 5.30am as sleep was hard to come by. I cooked a full English, reminding myself to get to the butchers for the new super food that is Black Pudding. I now remember why I like working from home. My normal commute involves traversing whoever happens to be in the kitchen on my way to my office at the back of the house. Today I left home at 7.15 & didn’t arrive at RBH until nearly 8.15. Reading rush hour traffic just seems to get worse, at least parking at that time is easy. A long 8 hours of treatment including the feared Chemo followed. 

Around 250 pages of a book about a couple who bought a Narrow Boat to live on were read (It’s not the best TBH), not sure how many songs shuffled on the iPod & various trips to the fantasy world of Facebook & Twitter kept me occupied. Carol arrived at lunchtime with much needed supplies of cappuccino, BLT, almond croissant & two cream eggs!! (Well I was told to put on some weight!) A quick session of Radiotherapy followed the Chemo & I was home in time to get Max up to OBR for his strength & conditioning session. I’m not sure who was more knackered on the way home from the club!

As an aside, once my treatment is over, or perhaps before it’s over if I feel ok, I’m going to start cycling again. I used to love it & cycled all over Berkshire & Oxfordshire when I was younger. I hate swimming, can’t run as my knees are shagged, but there’s a rather decent Mountain Bike sitting in the garage & not being used! Maybe I’ll tap you all up for dosh as Sponsorship for some stupid challenge to support McMillan? I’m open to suggestions……………

The Chemo nurse spent a long today going through the possible side effects of the first course of treatment. It’s pretty likely that I’ll feel like crap tomorrow & Thursday, but should pick up on Friday & over the weekend. Watch this space. Finally for today, I can’t praise highly enough ALL the staff I’ve had dealings with at RBH over the past few weeks. Without an exception they have been caring, understanding, knowledgeable, & most importantly, they listen to the daftest questions I keep putting to them!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmAV9_9_pk8 Another sad day for music with the passing of Glenn Frey. The Eagles weren’t to everyone’s taste, but I loved them back in the day. 

Wednesday 20th

The Chemo Nurse was correct, I woke up feeling like crap!

A couple of the tablets I was prescribed yesterday seemed to sort out the feeling of sickness & I managed to woof down a bacon sandwich. However I couldn’t shake off the feeling of total lethargy, so I did what any sensible person would do. I turned off the laptop & had a doze at 9.30 in the morning!!! Radiotherapy was scheduled for 2pm today, when I arrived at 1.45 it was immediately obvious that there were going to be delays, One of the three machines was down, another was playing up & the clinic had been augmented by folk from Bracknell as their machines were down. I’d like to say I sat down & waited my turn. But in fact I stood up & waited my turn as the waiting room was packed. What pissed me off massively was that it was obvious a number of patients were standing, whilst relatives with other patients were sitting comfortably. I was not impressed at all. After about 30 minutes I got a seat, only to give up to an obviously ill elderly lady, this was despite the fact that three teenage girls were sitting quite comfortably waiting with a relative. For once I kept my mouth shut, but if & when I get to the stage of feeling like shit I’ll just go in and announce that anyone who isn’t being treated & is under the age of 60 should stand up! I’ll then sit in their place before they have a chance to realise what’s going on. Rant over! Mixed thoughts about Max’s training being cancelled at OBR tonight due to frozen pitches. Half of me would have liked to have a chat with mates, the other half suspects I’ll be in bed by 9pm.

Thursday 21st

A much better day at the RBH today. Early appointment & no delays. Chatted to a couple of guys in the waiting room who were there yesterday in the chaos. We’ve agreed that next time anyone is standing up we’ll make a point of asking for seats for those being treated. I had my first meeting with Kate, the head Radiographer, she was quite happy with the way treatment is going & the fact that I’ve manged to put on quite a bit of weight. One more session to go this week then two days off for good behaviour. Only downside today was I forgot to take my music in & was subjected to Ronan Keeting & Robbie Williams! Childhood error that won’t be repeated. On the upside I’ve discovered that with my voice being shagged I can sing along to Rod Stewart & sound ok! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD_6KqP7K0g&list=RDfD_6KqP7K0g#t=14  

I’m starting to get some side effects now, which is to be expected, & entirely as described by the folk who are looking after me so well. I’m very tired, but hopefully that will pick up a bit tomorrow. I spent most of this afternoon asleep upstairs. I’ve also noticed that my throat is getting quite dry, again as predicted. “A Head full of Chocolate Frogs”……………

Friday 22nd

Well that’s the first 5 treatments completed, only 25 more to go, 1/6th of the way through. I really wasn’t sure how to feel entering into this week. Physically it hasn’t been as hard as I thought it might be. Mentally it’s been quite tough, specifically trying not to think about what might be ahead in the next few weeks. I need to take it just day by day & rely upon the expertise at RBH & the support of Carol, Max & Anna. I know it’s not easy for them at the moment & I don’t want this to be all about “Me”. There’s 4 of us in this together, supported brilliantly by some of our wider family & many friends.

After last week’s experiment with non alcoholic wine I’ve decided it’s not really worth the cost. It may taste similar, but doesn’t give any sort of buzz at all, & it’s not exactly cheap. This week’s drink of choice (Other than the 2 litres of water I have to down) has been ginger beer mixed with pineapple juice, don’t knock it until you’ve tried it!

Not much planned for the weekend. Hopefully I’ll get up to OBR to see Max play against Farnham RFC, weather permitting. Other than that I guess it’ll be a case of playing it by ear & sticking close to the Rams Twitter feed to get the score updates from their trip down to Worthing RFC.

To be continued……………

#shouldertoshoulder