Fitter and Fatter, but not necessarily Wiser

I started writing my blog whilst in Vietnam several weeks ago.  I had great plans to enlighten you all with snippets of my days there, but best laid plans as they say ....
My attempt at saving a document whilst in Vietnam on the net book clearly came to nothing so I will start all over again!

I have always wanted to go to Asia and see a different culture and Vietnam was definitely a different culture.  It was a fantastic holiday, complete with temples, pagodas boat rides along the Mekong Delta, walks and cycle rides through paddy fields in the shadow of towering limestone
outcrops, beautiful palaces and gardens
full of lotus flowers, flame trees and the 
incredibly fragrant frangipane, museums and propaganda, tropical rainstorms, and blood curdling heat and humidity.  I never thought whilst I was undergoing chemo, that I would ever again have the energy to go on such a holiday.  Thankfully I was wrong and the only problems I had were related to my back problems - not being able to walk as far as I wanted to without a lot of pain.  We ate masses of noodles and rice or rather Dave did.  It was soooo hot that I lost my appetite and came back half a stone lighter. (I have put it all back on again unfortunately)

I bought a large extra light  roomy suitcase for the holiday just in case we wanted to bring anything large back.  I easily managed to fill it,  as Vietnam is famous for its dressmakers and tailors. (I didn't of course pack them into my suitcase). Unfortunately Dave was a wee bit poorly with holiday tummy on the day we were in Hoi Ann  which as luck would have it was not only a lovely beach resort, but also the best place to have clothes made.  The hotel we were staying in had bikes available for guests.  So naturally I got on my bike, cycled to the town and spent many happy hours in the shops and dressmakers.  All items were delivered to the hotel the next morning - thank goodness for the big red suitcase! Here are a few photos of our holidiay there.

                                

   

Now we are back in rainy, but wonderfully cool and less humid England and planning (well I am planning) another trip away.

On the medical front I have had some injections into the nerves in my back which has relieved some of the back pain.  Can't say it was a pleasant procedure, but it seems to have done the trick and am enjoying walking again without pain.

Best of all I had another scan with contrast which shows, together with my blood tests, that the cancer is stable.  This is apparently something of a record as normally chemo is needed every 6 months as the disease spreads quite quickly when one has stage 4 (there is no stage 5 for those who were too polite to ask).  I have now had just over a year's remission and am hoping for lots more.

Another little interesting snippet is that for the last eighteen months, I have been organising a big fund raising orienteering event in Canterbury for the Pilgrims Hospices there.  Dave has spent two years surveying and drawing an urban map and the event went ahead last week-end.  We managed to get some publicity in the the local newspaper by relating my interest in the hospice organisation.  The article that was written has a wonderful banner headline 'Gran battling cancer plans map challenge' Makes me sound ancient.  Following publication of the article a television production company contacted me.  They want to make a programme for Channel 4 based on 6 people with a terminal prognosis and asked me if I would be interested in taking part.  The idea is that they get 6 dying people in a room discussing death.  Sounds riveting I thought and might even require a new outfit so I jumped at the chance!  Not that I have let this bit of fame and notoriety go to my head, but when gardening late into the evening a few nights ago, Dave wanted me to come in and hit upon a wonderful way of getting me to down spade and slug pellets quickly.  He tapped on the window, whilst holding the phone and mouthed 'its the BBC on the phone for you'  Of course I rushed in immediately, only to find it was my mother on the phone and his way of getting me in to make the dinner!

Before going off to make tonight's dinner, I recently found a letter I wrote when both daughters were living at home - been clearing out cupboards.  I thought I would reproduce it here as it still makes me squirm when I think about the reason for the letter.

8th January 02


Floor Manager, Ladies Fashions
Next Retail Ltd
Victoria Centre
Tunbridge Wells
Kent


Dear Madam,


Beaded Hem Dress


It is with great embarrassment and absolute humble pie that I am writing this letter about the above dress.  You will probably remember me in your shop last Saturday 5th January (I am sorry I have lost the slip of paper with your name written on it).


You may also remember that I was returning two items I had bought in the sale on 28th December.  I was certain that the black beaded hemmed dress that had a Cherry Pie label in it was bought at Next.  As I had in fact bought a black beaded hemmed dress on that day in your shop.  However you pointed out, as did the store manager that no such dress could have been sold.  You were absolutely correct and I was absolutely wrong.  I must explain how it happened before I am carted off to a funny farm!


My 17 year old daughter wanted a posh black frock for a New Year's Eve party.  I saw something which looked suitable, although not in size 10, but thought it would be okay.  I didn't look at it too closely.  I just noted it was black and beaded.  I bought some other things in the sale and rushed home.  I left most of the goodies in the bag as I had people staying that week-end.  When my daughter arrived home, I told her to get the black dress out of the bag and to see if it was okay.  She took it upstairs to try on.  She told me it didn't fit, but didn't bring it down to put back in the bag.


On Saturday when I was able to return to Next to bring back the items that didn't fit, I asked her to find the black dress.  She told me she had left it on her bed.  I ran upstairs, grabbed the black beaded dress off her bed, put it in the bag and dashed into town.  When I got it out at your shop, I was convinced it was the same dress I bought the week before, but of course it wasn't.  When I arrived home and explained the problem I had in Next to my daughter, she took the dress out of the bag and promptly announced "but that's Sarah's dress - I tried that on too.  You were meant to take back the Next dress weren't you?"  I am sure you have guessed by now that several black evening dresses were scattered liberally about my daughter's room and the one I grabbed off the bed was not the correct dress.  I didn't even notice the others.  Anyone who has teenage daughters will probably be able to envisage the scene in the bedroom and I should really have insisted that my daughter retrieve the dress in question rather than get it myself.  It didn't occur to me that she would be trying on her sister's dresses as well.  (In my defence, my oldest daughter has been away for six months and I had forgotten she also had a few black party frocks!)


Now I have found the dress in question, I can see they are not even similar, except for colour and beaded hems - the Next dress is much nicer and when I tried in on, amazingly it fit me - so I am thinking of keeping it anyway.


I can only again apologise profusely for all the fuss I caused.  I keep getting flashbacks to my conversation insisting that I bought a Cherry Pie dress from Next and how you all managed to keep your cool and were even helpful when confronted with this mad lady who couldn't tell one evening dress from another.  If I wasn't a middle-aged teacher, who knew better, I would blame the whole thing on my untidy recalcitrant daughter, but I had better take the blame fairly and squarely like a grown up.


I look forward to shopping in Next again, but might be too embarrassed to come into the Tunbridge Wells branch for quite a while yet!


With warm regards




Anita Kingdon
(A hassled mother/shopper)

It is amazing how much I have changed over the years - or have I !!!!!

Until the next blog .....

Another Birthday celebrated and still managing to cycle up hills!

Whoopee!  I am back to cycling on a normal bike.  Now I have got some strength back, I can use a normal bike - although I still love the electric bike.  I did my first 15 miles, big hills and all, yesterday on a mountain bike at Bedgebury (local forest with cycle trails).  Whilst working out the gears, I fell off spectacularly before I really got started.  No broken bones though and I still bounce well.

Health is stable at the moment, if not better than stable.  The last visit to Dr Jot. my friendly oncologist revealed that the lesion in my liver has shrunk a bit.  Blood tests all reveal normal function and bone scan still shows no progression.  I am still getting a lot of pain in my lower back and hips and so had another MRI scan as the problem may well be arthritis in the hips - I have it in the knees.  I like to spread my NHS needs across lots of specialities and haven't had a bone man to talk to for a long time.  So it might be a hip replacement on the NHS  next.

So window of opportunity for another holiday then!  Have now convinced Dave that Vietnam is the place to go for a cultural change from Wales.  (See last blog!)  It is now all but booked.  Problem is the insurance.  I have been quoted nearly £2,000 by most specialist insurers to cover the metastatic cancer.  So after talking to the Vietnamese Embassy to check that they have lots of up-to-date private hospitals, I have decided to take out cover excluding the cancer and will pay for treatment if I need it in Vietnam.
For £2,000, with one insurer,  you don't even get your baggage loss insured.

Which leads me on to the last holiday from which I have just returned.  In February, for 10 days, I went to Morocco and Spain.  It was an orienteering holiday (me obsessed, never!)  Two days of competition in Morocco and then some warm weather training in Andalusia followed by an event the following week-end.  All was going well, weather 21 degrees in the day, food cheap, forests and medinas wonderful, until one morning when in Spain, I woke up with lots of floaters, dots and lines, in front of my right eye.  Bother, it was going to be hard to see a map.  This was the Thursday morning and the true competition did not start until Saturday.  I was convinced by the people who were with me - good old Teresa, Sarah and Charlie (Dave had to stay at home for this little holiday as he has too much work to do), that I should go to a Spanish hospital.  As Spain is in the EEC  and offers us Brits. reciprocal health cover on their NHS, I agreed.  Actually anything to do with my eyes wasn't going to be related to the cancer and I had insurance for everything else, so I knew I would be okay to get treatment if needed.  Cadiz which had the nearest big hospital,  was about 40 minutes inland from where we were staying. So off we went to spend a morning being investigated and an afternoon site seeing.  It turned out I had a tear in my retina.   Not that I am competitive, but Charlie had holiday tummy, Teresa had a throat infection, so clearly I had to top those minor complaints in the cornucopia of possible holiday illnesses.  Thus giving me an even better excuse for my poor times in the orienteering event. It is always good to have a few excuses up your sleeve when, post race, fellow competitors ask why you took so long.  The tear had to be repaired by laser treatment the following morning.  This was all achieved very efficiently in the ophthalmologist's chair and I was discharged with a typed up Spanish report to take back to a specialist in the UK  Thanks goodness for google translate.  "I have lots of floaters in my eye that appear to move and have suddenly appeared this morning" was somewhat beyond my school girl Spanish.  For those interested it translates as  'Tengo un montón de manchas en mi ojo derecho, que parecen moverse. Aparecieron esta mañana, de repente.'  Well at least that is what I said, it could translate as 'I woke up with a goat in my bed', but as accident and emergency directed my to the eye clinic, it must have been nearly correct.  


After the treatment, I mentioned to the doctor treating me in my broken Spanish that I was in Spain for a sporting competition.  She did speak some English - well more than my Spanish and managed to get across that I was not to do anything strenuous for several days - could jogging, nay walking - up a few sand dunes with a map be called strenuous.  I decided not and did the event anyway.  Remarkably I was not last - in fact for the second race I was 4th.  Were the other competitors, dead, blind or both you may ask.? No they just can't navigate as well apparently.


So back at home again, eye checked over by Maidstone hospital Eye Specialists and all is well.  Apparently anyone can get a torn retina, especially if you are middle aged, short sited (and have an obsession with maps).  Just bad timing really.  


Finally, for those that are still awake and reading this, I celebrated another birthday last week.  Now 58 and really hoping to be planning my 60th birthday bash in two years' time.  The family celebration was conducted next door in our village's posh tea rooms.  Grandchild Ralph took centre stage in all the photos - he is still  a wee bundle of peachy skin and strong lungs.  I will post a few pictures.  My favourite is his Auntie Becky holding him whilst he looks lovingly towards his mum.

 Thought I would upload this - Bex bought me a present of a make-over with her.  We do look thoroughly made over don't you think?

 The holiday group en route to Morocco - can you spot me?  Orienteers all.

 The winning ladies team, at leisure in a Moroccan Medina.  The Medina walls are all painted blue.  It was a lovely place to visit - Chaouen, Northern Morocco.

Now what shall I take to Vietnam - sandals, sun cream, ............


Hasta la vista!

An early Christmas present and he only weighed 5lb 1 oz!

It is a few months since I last updated my blog and some tremendous events have occurred since then - well one tremendous event really.  I became a grandmother.  Sarah (and Tim) produced a tiny baby boy in the evening of December 19th.  I have never been renowned for my time keeping, but child birth was the one exception, I produced Sarah the day she was due.  Sarah henceforth has been punctual with everything - a little too punctual sometimes, and clearly child birth was going to be one of those times. At 36 weeks last Monday, just when I thought I had at least a month to finish all the baby sewing projects I had started, but not finished (due to too much holidaying and curtain making), Sarah phoned me to say she was possibly in labour.   Her husband, Tim, sent me a text at 3 in the afternoon to say that the contractions were coming every 5 minutes or so and Sarah and he were staying put at the hospital.  I stopped cleaning the car and scrubbing the kitchen floor (clearly I was doing the nesting instinct for Sarah. Before you give birth you have a surge of energy, it is said, and start cleaning things that you never did before,  When I asked Sarah if she was doing any unusual cleaning that morning, she said she was not and not likely to either thank-you.)  Strange how I felt the need then to clean the car and the house!  However all was abandoned after Tim's text.  Fabric, pattern and sewing machine were taken out in order to finish at least one item promised for the baby's birth.  The baby was born just after 8 in the evening and the baby sleeping bag was finished at 4 a.m. in the morning!!!  A very sleepy grandmother went to see a very sleepy new grandchild at Epsom General the following day to present said gift and do some serious bonding.

Proud grandparents or what?

I was quite unprepared for the amazing surge of emotion one gets on seeing and holding a child created by your own child.  Needless to say Ralph is adorable (I would say that wouldn't I.) Both David and I are really looking forward  to our grandparent duties when he has put on a bit more weight - Ralph not David, he's already done that.  We had to decide on names for ourselves - there are two grandparents called Dave which would have been confusing and I, of course, am far too young to be known as granny. So I decided on Nonna (Italian for granny) with Anita tacked on the end which makes Nonnanita.  However I keep forgetting that and slip into grandma, so I am renamed Gramanita which sounds a bit like a nutty cereal bar, but what the heck.  Just hope I am around long enough for him to pronounce my name anyway he can.  Dave is going to be Poppadave - not quite an Indian crisp served with curry, but close.  The other grandpa Dave is going to be Umpadave and Tim's mum is sensibly sticking to Grandma Sarah.  Do all families have this naming difficulty?

Baby Ralph a few days' old 

Well enough grandparent chatter - boring I know to those who aren't grandparents, the other good news this month was the results of the latest scans.  I was (and still am) getting lots more back pain again after having none for over a year.  I thought it was best to get another scan in case the bone metastasis had progressed again.  Thankfully my bones can be checked with a bone scan so I didn't need a CT scan.  I had the scan done at the beginning of December and I received the result on 23rd December, just in time for Christmas.  The scan showed absolutely no progression in the cancer.  So two good Christmas presents!  To get rid of the back ache before - when I was first diagnosed in June of last year -  I underwent radiotherapy on my back and ribs.  I don't know how it stops the pain, but it did and I expect the effect of that has now worn off so I might have to have more of that.

I have been grounded for a few months and have not planned any more holidays until next February or possibly March at least, but hope to travel to somewhere with a different culture  - Dave is keen to go orienteering in Wales.  I keep telling him that the cultural abnormalities of the Welsh was not what I meant when I suggested a different cultural experience.  Now where did I put that world adventures brochure ...........?

Happy New Year to everyone reading this.  Look forward to seeing lots of you in the new year.

(Gram)Anita xx

I'm still going strong!

Finally I have got back to blogging and many apologies to those that  thought the break in transmission was due to ill health.  It is amazing when you don't go to work any more how much more you tend to fit in to the day. How did I ever find time to go to work!

We have done rather a lot since the last blog, but first the health thing.  I finished the last series of chemo in July (over three months ago now) and have had monthly blood tests and reviews since then and more recently a full CT scan. The blood tests are to check on my liver function as well as everything else and two items on the list are important with regards to whether the secondaries are progressing in my liver.  One is the bilirubin level and the other something called Aspartate Transamin (AST).  Bilirubin should be less than 21 and AST should be between 4 and 37.  My bilirubin has always been normal, but AST has at times been over 130.  Immediately after my last chemo, all biochemistry results looked good and then two months later the dreaded AST had risen again.  I was told that if the next blood test showed a rise I would need another CT scan to see what was happening and possibly more chemo.  As this was in August and I was about to go to Italy on holiday, I didn't really want the news that I would need another dose of Chemo.  However the next blood test showed the AST level had dropped and was now close to normal again so the sword of Damocles was lifted thank goodness.  I was scheduled for the normal three monthly CT scan at the beginning of October with a review last week - hence leaving writing the blog till now.

CT scans are always a bit of an issue for me as one needs to drink 2 litres of water an hour before the Scan - bad enough for a middle aged bladder, but worse is to come.  A contrast is needed to enhance various bits of  the anatomy so that any abnormalities can be seen on the scan. The contrast is injected into the vein via a cannula - a thin tube threaded into the vein via  a syringe type set up.  Now if you have fat juicy veins that is not a problem, but if, like me, you have whimpy thin wriggly ones, it is a pain in the ass!  The poor nurses try hard to get the thing in with 'just a sharp scratch'. (How I wish they would still say 'just a little prick' like they used to so we could all have a good laugh.) However, despite many attempts either they can't find a vein where the tube stays in or - like the last time -  the tube stays in but when the contrast is flushed through the vein 'blows' and the liquid is then sub-cutaneous rather than venous - not to mention it bloody hurts! The result is that I have an 'unenhanced' scan which does not give as much information.  I was waiting therefore to hear that I would need another CT scan when I went for the review last week.

The long awaited review came around last Monday.  I was delighted to hear that the scan had enough information to show that the cancer is not spreading and showed in the words of my consultant 'stable disease compared to the previous scan'. Together with stable liver function tests, I am excused from any more treatment for at least three months - the next scan and review.  Also will be having Ultrasound scans rather than CT scans as venous access is so difficult with me - phew, what a relief.  Apparently for liver reviews ultrasound is fine.

So it is full speed ahead to the next holiday - We are going to Spain next Tuesday 1st November for a week. Becky's lovely boyfriend Tom has similarly lovely parents who have a property in the Mercia region of Spain (Calispari - I think it is called).  They are letting us use it for a week of chill-out and discovery.  The weather will be warmer than here - although in Kent here the sun is still shining.  This will be the fourth holiday for me since July - well need to pack a few in now.

We went to Oban on the West coast of Scotland at the end of July for about 10 days.  We were competing (yes you guessed it) in a multi-day orienteering event.  Six days and I managed to compete in all competitions and did not come last in any.  The last day nearly killed me though with almost 1,000 metre climb to get to the start.  Views were fantastic from the kiddy heights of Ardchattan overlooking Loch Etive.We did some lovely sight seeing whilst there and indulged grandly on local crab and scallops.  We were back for a week and then did the fund raising cycle I organised, Coast to Coast along Hadrian's Wall.  We cycled 174 miles in 4 days. and raised over £1,000 for Hospice in the Weald.  It was a wonderful experience - even more so on my 'speed assisted' bike with all the family for support. Sarah - oldest daughter, with her little bump at that time (now a much bigger bump), Tim her husband, Becky and Tom are all old hands at long distance cycling - they have all done various cycles across the breath (and length for Becky) of England before.  Dave and I have cycled across Umbria several years ago, but that was pre the last lot of disease and treatment, so I was a bit worried I would not keep up.  With my 'speed assisted' - okay electric then - bike I managed to keep going and even overtake the odd family member.  The Pennine watershed was a bit of a challenge though - big hills they have up there.  We stopped at B & B's en-route and visited Roman forts and artefacts - I will post some photos to prove we did it.  Thanks everyone for supporting the charity by donating through Just giving.  I think the site is still active for those that want to see the photos on the website.  The web address is www.justgiving.com/anita.kingdon.

All six of us wearing Hospice T Shirts on Day 3 not far from Birdoswald  Roman Fort

A photocall at the highest point on the cycle, Day 3 Just after Bardon Mill

Can you see the bump - on Sarah not me!

Holiday in Sorento -  Me in wig

Holiday in Sorento - Me without wig

Bit of shopping in Sorento  - No wig, just hat.  It was sooo hot!

Another rather major event in the Kingdon calendar was the house move.  Reading back at the blogs, I can see that the last time I blogged we were due to move to Wadhurst.  We had seen a house we really liked in Brenchley, but lost it to higher bidders.  These unlucky people however, had to drop out as they had a problem with their chain, so we dropped the purchase at Wadhurst and bid again for the lovely house in Brenchley.  The offer was accepted and we moved in on July 21st.  For those that don't know it, our new address is Bournes, High Street, Brenchley, Kent TN12 7NQ and the phone number is 01892 724986.  We have only moved 2 miles west of our other house so it wasn't too much of an upheaval.  We love the house.  It is really bright, light and cheerful.  It is right in the centre of this lovely Kentish village.  I can now walk to the butchers, post office and general stores.  We have a lovely posh tea shop and deli in front of the house which also sells rather good wine and local brews.  We are a short walk from two very Kentish pubs and next door to a forge.  We have sort of down sized as the house is two story and not three and has one room less than the old house. The original structure of the house is very old.  It was created out of the wine and cheese store from the original shop - an excellent abode for wine and cheese lovers like us. We have spare rooms for quests so please come and visit.  I am trying to organise a house warming as soon as I can so hopefully many people reading this will come and visit us then.  If you are still reading this well done!  I have been typing for quite a while and have probably bored you all to tears so will sign off till my next blog.  Before I go I will add a few more pics from the last holiday -I went to Italy with friend Teresa as we both wanted to see the Roman ruins of Pompei and Herculaneum, not to mention the Island of Capri and the Amalfi Coast.  We packed it all in but it was a bit rushed and very warm there - 36 degrees at the beginning of the week. (We went in the first week of September).  I finally decided to go public with the new hairstyle - sort of trendy lesbian again and discarded the wig which was sooooooooo hot to wear in such heat.  Teresa was really good company.  She giggles as much as me and is similarly into a glass of wine and good retail therapy.  However as we are both past our prime getting out of the door for the day seems to take longer and longer - checking and rechecking that you have everything, then forgetting most of it anyway, seems to be the way of things now.  Now where is the button to press 'publish this post' ...........

Continuation of Exciting news - i published before I finished!

I pressed publish as I was dozing off last night and hadn't quite finished so here is the rest of my blog!

As I was blogging .... I have done quite a few Saunders Mountain Marathons in the past,so was a bit disappointed I was not going along to this one but have accepted now that climbing mountains might be a bit too much at present.  There is always next year though!

I can now see that with lots of time off from chemo I will start to feel better and have just planned a coast to coast type cycle along Hadrian's way in mid August with all the family (husbands and partners), and am competing at a multi day event in Scotland (orienteering) in about 3 weeks time - shame I didn't get the chemo on time for this cycle as I would have felt better for the Scottish event.  The Hadrian's Wall cycle which starts in Ravenglass, Cumbria on the west coast and takes you 174 miles north and then east to Tyne and Wear should be fun.  It will be the last time we can do a family thing together before Sarah gets rather too rotund for cycling and then after January next year we will be needing a baby buggy on the back of her bike!

We are also moving house very shortly.  Reading back over my blogs I can see the last time I wrote we were buying the Wadhurst house with big garden and large, large water feature in the garden - house was nice too.  However since then the house we really wanted up the road in Brenchley came back onto the market and we bid for that one again and hopefully will be exchanging contracts any day now.  I love this area and Brenchley means all my friends will still be close by and can drop in any time.    We will be right in the middle of Brenchley which will be lovely and convenient.  Can't wait to move now.  These last few days before exchange are nail bitingly stressful!

So really exciting time ahead, new grandchild, new house, at least two holidays booked and more to plan and no more more chemo for a while now I hope.

See you all at the house warming!

Exciting News!

I am going to be a grandma in January!  Can now reveal - although have known for a while that Sarah is pregnant.  Tim, her husband and Sarah wanted to wait until the end of the first trimester and the scan to announce it to all.  This has meant I have had to keep this exciting news to myself for a while,  So now I have finally been given permission to blog it.  I better get on and finish the cot quilt I started 28 years ago before Sarah was born.  I still have all the material cut out and appliquéd ready to sew on.  Also need some lessons on how to be a grandma or will it be nanny or gran or granny - Don't of course feel old enough to be any of those names.

I have now finally finished the chemo - more exciting news.  In my last blog I think I wrote that the plan was to do 8 sessions.  However, when my scan was assessed, it revealed that although the cancer metastases are stable and have not progressed, they have not shrunk so it is not worth putting me through the rigours of two more cycles as they are unlikely to shrink the cancer more.  However my liver function biochemistry looks much better.  By the end of week three I am feeling a lot better, so I am sure it has done some good.  

After the review two weeks ago  it was decided to go through with Chemo 6 and then finish.  When I arrived last Tuesday for my chemo and the bone acid infusion, only the latter was administered.  There was not doctor's note to say prescribe the docetaxel (chemo cycle 6 of the programme). Some sort of communication error had occurred The onclologist Dr Rema had told the pharmacy and the treatment clinic to cancel the next lot of chemo - she meant 7 and 8, but I was arriving last week for number 6.  In the end I had to go home and sort it out by ringing the oncologist.  She was most embarrassed she had not been more specific.  The letter she sent me was very specific, but the chemo nurses needed authorisation from the oncologist and she was in a different hospital.  I did get another appointment for this week.  So between cycles this time I have had 4 weeks respite and finally started feeling much better in week 4, did more walking and cycling than I have done for ages and at a more normal pace.  I was staying in Surrey near the Surrey Hills this weekend as the rest of the family had gone to do the Saunders Mountain Marathon in the lake district.  I have done quite a few of the Saunders Mountain Marathons in the past so

A New String to my bow, or is it Syringe to my bow?

Time to do an up date having now had 4 cycles of chemo.  I was thinking quite happily that I had passed the half way mark, only to find that I will be having 8, not 6 six cycles of this nasty stuff.  This means that I won't be finished until August but luckily we had not planned our big holiday until October.

Several of the side effects have caught up with me though.  One is the neuropathy one gets in the fingers and toes which is irreversible.  It is the sort of sensation you get when your hands or feet are cold and then start to thaw out.  Th next doses will have to be reduced so that I tolerate the drug better.

One of the other side effects is oedema in the leg.  I thought this would go away and was maybe only affecting  my leg because of the knee operation.  However, the swelling in my right leg this cycle did not go down and when I discussed this with the oncologist's registrar this week, he ordered an urgent ultrasound which I had today.  This revealed that I have a thrombosis in my calf (DVT) for which I have to have heparin injected daily.  Fortunately I can do this myself.  I was given another lesson in how to get the syringe in a suitable fatty bit of skin (I have lots of possible sites to inject!) and sent home with an enormous bag of syringes and a bright yellow sharps bin for the disposal of said articles.

The ultrasound procedure was slightly embarrassing as I am extremely ticklish around the knee area (not sure if I am the only one who has ticklish knees - David drives me mad trying to grab my knees to see the response.)  As the radiographer got closer to my knee, I took a sharp intake of breath.  she apologised as she thought she had hurt me but I then had to explain between giggles that my knees where extremely ticklish and I would try not to whack her hand away.
"Strange" she said "I haven't come across anyone with ticklish knees before,"  it's usually the armpits that make people giggle".  I have always known I was joined up wrongly.

I was advised not to do any competitive exercise for at least a fortnight.  Just as well then that I did the multi-day orienteering event last week-end in Shropshire. Although the swelling was bad then and according to the Registrar I was rather lucky that the exercise hadn't forced the blood clot towards my lungs. I was told to be very sensible for a week or more and only do gentle walking.  Advice which of course I will follow to the letter!

The oncologist is also planning a CT scan for me to check that the chemotherapy is reducing the metastases and to find out why I am still having breathing problems.  As it was impossible to get a cannula in to infuse the contrast fluid last time, I may have to have a pic line inserted this time.  This is a permanent 'port' inserted into a more major vein in the arm into which can be plugged a variety of tubes to push things in and get things out of one's body.  Sounds like fun as it is not done under anaesthetic.  The registrar assured me it was a painless procedure.  (Although that is what the dentist said when he was filing my teeth down this week!  I have had toothache to add to the various bits of my anatomy to cause problems).

The good news is that my biochemistry looks very good.  The result of blood tests show that all levels are now almost normal again.  So hopefully the chemo (horrid though it is) is doing the trick.

The house moving is going ahead nicely.  We have sold our house and found another one near Wadhurst.  If all goes according to plan we are hoping to exchange and complete before the end of July.  The new house has a fantastic garden complete with large pond, steps, decking and lots of interesting nooks and crannies.  The house has lots of querky bits too and needs hardly any changes.  I will have to start clearing the shed now.  I have been waiting to plant all the vegetable plants that have arrived from the seed company.  At present they are in big pots - so hopefully I may get them into the garden of the new house.  I am hoping lots of people will come and see us when we move and  plan a big house warming sometime in Autumn.

Until the next blog ................. Anita