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2 years post treatment

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 Hello friends! I thought I'd give an update for any who are interested. Whether you're a friend or family member, or just come across this blog. Today I had my follow up appointment having an MRI scan. The scan was a routine scan for two years post treatment. They looked into my pelvic area as well as where I have two insufficiency fractures, caused by radiotherapy.  Unfortunately for me, these tiny fractures are causing me a bit of trouble. During the build up to Christmas 2021, from around late November / early December, I was experiencing some intense pain in my back. After having an MRI and DEXA scan to check my bone density, it looks like my tiny fractures are causing my pain. Some people have these and have no trouble whatsoever. Some experience small discomfort. I like to be a bit different and I experience pain that does effect me. My recent MRI had a look at these and is starting to show they are slowly healing. This is great news, as I'm currently classed as Oste...
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2022 A New Dawn?

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 Hello friends! Around this time two years ago, I was struggling with pain management. Little did I know back then how serious my situation would become. The world was starting to try and comprehend what was going to happen. No one could've predicted the devastation that occurred for millions of people. Maybe, just maybe there will be a new dawn in 2022? I like to be a "glass half full" person. But over the last couple of months, I've started to experience pains. Much like how it started the first time for me. I took tablets like most people would do, but as time progressed, things like paracetamol didn't help. I knew I had to give the specialist nurse a call to talk things through. They have a voicemail, as there isn't anyone available to sit on the phone, due to the knock on of the pandemic. I tell the voicemail my name, hospital number and symptoms I'm getting. The voicemail informs me that it could take a day to get back to me. I have no qualms with th...
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One year on

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Hello friends! Today is the anniversary of starting this blog, and my boss fight with cancer.  I have to admit, that's never a sentence I thought I would ever say. In fact, I never thought that I  would get cancer. I was an active, relatively healthy person (apart from my eating habits at work), and if I was unwell would try my hardest to work through it. Cancer is more common than we think, and with my blog I wanted to document my journey, and hopefully enable people to talk more freely about it. A year ago I received my cancer diagnosis. Which you can read my first blog post by clicking me (it will open in a new window),  shortly after lockdown started in the UK, due to the global covid-19 pandemic. I had been off sick from work for about a week at this point and from then onward, I was shielding for almost 8 months. Lockdown had eased for the summer, but I was still receiving treatment, and didn't get my "all clear" until November.  I returned to work in December,...
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Week 38-43 - Thursday 21st January 2021

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Hello friends! It's been a while since I gave an update, and today seemed fitting, as I had my 3 monthly review with the oncologist. More on that later. December I went back to work on a phased return, using my annual leave to plug the financial gap when I'm not working.  This was a combination of building stamina, and getting back into the swing of things.  To start with I was wiped out after 3 hours and the journey there and back.  I would end up having a sleep when I got home to recover.  As the weeks went on, the nap time would reduce to then not napping at all.  However, getting to sleep at night has been a struggle, but that's down to it being SAD season. At the beginning of January I ended up getting the flu.  It was definitely the flu, before anyone asks. My symptoms started and I was knocked out within an hour.  I had at least majority of all symptoms listed on the NHS website.  I was wiped out for almost a week, and was pretty much bed r...
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Week 35-37 - Thursday 10th December

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Hello friends! I thought I'd give a bit of an update, as I went back to work this week! For those that don't know, I work for the Co-op (major UK food retailer, which is a co-operative, owned by its members). I had been in regular contact with my line manager (that should be plural, as they had changed, but that wasn't an issue) throughout my treatment, and we had discussed a phased return to work, before going on a training course when I'm ready, to take up my new role as store manager.  For those that have just stumbled across my blog, I'll give you a little bit of context about me and my job. At the beginning of the year, a job opening was posted for a store manager position. I applied and in February, I had an interview.  Another job opening for a different store was advertised, and that interview carried over for this store as well.  In March I was informed I didn't get the first one I had applied for, but the second was still awaiting another applicant/s t...
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Week 34 - Thursday 19th November

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Hello friends! WHAT A WEEK!   This time last week, I was given the all clear for my diagnosis of stage 3 cancer. I'll be honest, but it didn't really kick in when I was told. I was happy, but it hadn't really sunk in. After I posted the blog, and the messages started to come through, that was the point I started to realise that the battle was over. I still have hurdles to overcome.  For example, continuing to get stronger, returning to work, overcoming the chemo brain, increasing the control of my toilet habits, controlling my SAD symptoms, continue to attend the regular check ups and remembering to take my HRT (Hormone replacement therapy) tablets. However, what has this year brought me, apart from the shit storm that was the pandemic effecting everyone in its own way?   I've learned that despite getting one of the most scariest diagnosis', I remained positive for the most part and had confidence in the NHS, providing me with amazing care.  I'm really not one t...
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Week 32-33 Thursday 12th November

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Hello friends! It's been an eventful couple of weeks for all of us.  England went into its second lockdown, "Lockdown 2", on Thursday 5th, I also had a phone call to book myself in for the PET-CT scan.  The earliest appointment they had was on Wednesday 11th for 8am.  I thought that slot was perfect, as I'll just wake up, rock up to the scan and by the time it was done, I'd be ready for breakfast.  Remembering I had to have only water for 6 hours before the scan, I was happy.  However, it would mean I'd have to wait at least a week for the results. A couple of hours later, they called me back, saying they had a slot available on Saturday 7th at 5pm.  The lady who called me earlier, must've noted how happy I was for the call, and I had told her I was waiting for the call and wanted the results of the scan. When she called back, I jumped at the chance, as I would stand more chance of getting the results sooner.  I rocked up at 4:30pm as they had asked if...
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