So a lot of people, many of whom are very kind strangers, have been asking about my birthday this year. My birthday is May 5th and I’m going to be honest it won’t be the best of birthdays by the look of it. We are still in lockdown so no family visits, my body decided to grow cancer in multiple spots leading to a diagnosis of incurable cancer. I may be starting treatment or having a procedure that day,who can say at this point. And in the back of my mind it could be my last birthday. There are no presents I really need or want and my family and close friends will have those covered. In hones ..read more

I’m going to be honest, at the moment Cancer is kicking my arse. I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place. I need to try and stay mobile, to eat and to sleep but I’m carrying who knows how many extra kilos in fluid. The same tumour and fluid is crushing my lungs and it’s a weird throw back to breathlessness, gasping and anxiety attacks of pre transplant days. But with good lungs. Eating is difficult drinking bloody impossible as extras just add to the extra weight/heaviness on my chest. A lot of people say ‘get the fluid drained like I did before’. 1) this wasn’t a nice experience 2) it las ..read more

I’m going to be honest, at the moment Cancer is kicking my arse. I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place. I need to try and stay mobile, to eat and to sleep but I’m carrying who knows how many extra kilos in fluid. The same tumour and fluid is crushing my lungs and it’s a weird throw back to breathlessness, gasping and anxiety attacks of pre transplant days. But with good lungs. Eating is difficult drinking bloody impossible as extras just add to the extra weight/heaviness on my chest. A lot of people say ‘get the fluid drained like I did before’. 1) this wasn’t a nice experience 2) it las ..read more

Ok so it’s the blog I’ve not wanted to write. It’s not even that so much as it feels like I’ve been overloaded and it’s difficult to explain. I think I’ll be sticking to physical/ practical stuff here and follow up with a more emotional/thoughts post but let’s stop putting it off and explain. Last time I blogged I was heading to Harefield again. I was seen in clinic, found a bed and sent to the ward on Tuesday. There were lots of ideas thrown around initially. My lung function had taken a big drop. I was X-rayed and told I’d be having a bronch the next day (a camera into lungs which can be us ..read more

 I think most of you already know the basics of what’s been going on here but I wanted to write something. I will be skipping over bits as the last 3 weeks have been utter madness. In my last posts I was telling you how my stomach was hugely distended, how bad I was feeling and the treatment I was trying for a bowel blockage. After a week of intense laxatives and the toll of that on my body I was admitted to Harefield. The intense regime continued but wasn’t working. The incredible doctor looking after me was concerned and had basically consulted with my gastro doctor to potentially oper ..read more

Following on from yesterday’s post where I had a rant about those who aren’t helping the situation we find ourselves in right now, I wanted to show the other side of the coin. In times of crisis, people often show their true colours. Companies can do right by their customers and staff, become an example or they can show themselves as unfair employees, perpetuate the problem simply by remaining open or not being a good example (pubs, clubs and restaurants I’m looking at you) or they can do what is right in spite of what that may mean to their profits, especially if they are a small business. T ..read more

Apologies before I even write this post but you are getting a rant today. I am so frustrated right now, I really thought long and hard about writing this because I don’t want to be that person, but I think I might explode if I don’t say it. It’s another Corona virus post which, gain, I don’t want to write about but it’s the most important thing right now and believe it or not I plan some positive blogs relating to it but today, is not one of those days. The vast majority of those who read this post, these moans won’t apply to you. However I am so angry at all the people out there, in the Uk ..read more

There may be some of you out there who believe you have the best mum in the world. Sorry to disillusion you but that title belongs to my mum. Today is my mums birthday. We are in self isolation so I knew it wasn’t going to be ideal, but damn it if I wasn’t going to do my best to make it special. I had some decorations already and I made a few more! I felt very ‘Good Life’ to be making my own! Thankfully I’d already bought her present as I try to plan early for birthdays etc as I’m not always able to get out and about as needed.  These paper fans were made from a stash of scrapbo ..read more

My last post seemed to get quite a big response which was odd as I felt a bit nervous posting but I’m glad I did. So as I explained, as there is still no useful advice from the government on how the elderly and those with health conditions should be dealing with Covid, we are having to decide what we are comfortable with as individuals. For me, I don’t want to fully self isolate too quickly, this could go on for months yet and that could mean me being stuck in my house for all that time when if I had not acted so quickly I could have another few weeks doing certain things outside these 4 wall ..read more

I imagine you must have read about Coronavirus everywhere else, that you knew I’d tackle it at some point. Fun Fact before we start, you can say Covid-19 to the exact tune of ‘come on Eileen’ and once you do, that’s the way you will read it forever after. You’re welcome. When you've read about this virus before, it’s more than likely to have been from a news or media outlet. I want to talk about it from a patient perspective. You know how everywhere keeps saying that the risks are minimal and Covid isn’t a big deal to those who aren’t older or with underlying health issue? How, when peop ..read more