I'm now 5 days into radiotherapy and am lucky enough to be feeling very few side effects, I was told that this is normal and that the burning and fatigue will likely not kick-in for another 5 or 6 days but I am thoroughly enjoying feeling relatively normal once again.
The break in nastiness gave me a rather limited respite from symptoms, one which was rudely interrupted by the removal of my portacath - a thoroughly unpleasant experience to undergo while fully conscious but one which marked an important psychological milestone - if my Oncologist wants it out, he's not intending to pump by veins full of chemicals for at least the foreseeable future and I am very happy with that.
The Radiology team in Northampton General Hospital are a pretty impressive example of a team who genuinely seem to enjoy their work and take a great deal of pride in patient care, some mornings I've been in and out within 10 minutes and others I have been there for over 2 hours, they don't start the radiotherapy until they are 100% happy with the settings so that they can minimise damage to my heart and lungs and maximise opportunities to nuke any resilient cancer cells. The treatment is targeted to my chest and neck with my arm fixed behind my head, my only role is to remain completely still which is a challenge when the process starts to pass the half hour mark and my nose starts to itch!
I was lucky enough to be able to rearrange the radiotherapy sessions so that I could take Erica to school for her first taster session, I was the rather tragic Mummy found blubbing in the playground as Erica waved goodbye without a glance over her shoulder, it struck me then, as it does on numerous occasions, just how many wonderful experiences there are still to live for and how I intend not to miss a single one.
I've also managed a few more outings on the bike and some rather unsuccessful runs in the morning but they are all starting to help my Strava account to be dusted off and moved from the cold case archives into the 'mild and gentle exercise' category, I have some more silverware to collect before I attempt to regain my Queen of the Mountain trophies but as Dave likes to remind me, it's not a goal unless it's a big hairy audacious goal!
#fightlikeagirl
