Kick that Uterus into Touch

 Yesterday i found that I just couldn’t do anything...... I am so conditioned to believe that I must be busy at all times that I found myself feeling down and sad. I tried to get on and do stuff, but I honestly felt as if I’d been run over by a steamroller. Whether this is due completely to last Friday’s first immunotherapy treatment, or my maiden voyage with the flu jab the following day, or a combination of the two, I just don’t know. Anyway, the sum total of yesterday’s energy output was :-two trips to the local co-op, a spot of reading, a determined effort to start cleaning the house (got as far as carrying the vacuum cleaner down the stairs) and a reheating of the previous night’s dinner - ping. And there you have it......... 

 Today was my first scheduled treatment of Nivolumab, the immunotherapy drug that I am allowed to have due to new Covid guidelines. I was booked in for treatment at 11 am - so I set off from home at 9.30 (Yay - free travel!) and arrived at the Marsden at just before 10.30 am, after a super slick journey of bus train, tube.....(mostly thanks to being able to get on the Gatwick Express since lockdown!)  Upon arrival, everyone is given a new mask - this is routine. I made my way to the Medical Day Care unit where the drugs are given. Never been in there before, so I wasn’t sure of the routine. You can tell the ‘old hands’ because they stride in with purpose! I was told that I had been allocated chair 26 and I responded gleefully that it “matched my age!”.... this flippant remark was treated by the receptionist with a wry smile....... bastard. He told me that if the chair was empty, then I could sit in it, so I went and found it. The treatment area is a huge room, sectioned into a...

 I went for my scheduled appointment to Dr Taylor’s gynae clinic yesterday - after the merry-go-round pass-the-parcel (me) of consultant clinics.  Dr Taylor has been overseeing me (surveillance programme) since my hysterectomy in November 2018, but when the tumour was identified in the colon a few weeks back, I was then referred to the colorectal surgeon, and then to the colorectal medical oncologist, and then back to the gynae team....as the sneaky cancer cells are endometrial in origin. This means that Dr Taylor will be overseeing my therapy. I am also having consultations with Dr Terri McVeigh who is a brilliant young Irish geneticist (because of the interesting and unusual nature of my case....did I mention that before?) I have asked at each consultation whether I could have my treatment at the Sutton Marsden, and everyone seemed to think that was a possibility. This would mean that if I don’t feel very well then someone else could drive me there, or if I feel fine, I coul...

 Firstly, thank you to everyone who has contacted me with good wishes and anxious questions. I am very moved by the care and love shown by friends and relatives alike. Especially to those of you who are currently going through your own personal health battles..... This week I am away in Hastings with my three colleagues: Helen, Susan and Joyce. We booked to stay in a lovely little Airbnb supposedly for the RCM conference. We were supposed to be in Wales at the International Conference Centre, but when the conference became virtual, we decided that we needed to go away anyway and access the conference remotely. So here we are in Ore, on the eastward side of Hastings, and we have listened to some of the conference speakers (honest), but also scrambled down the hillside to the seashore, which has a famed naturist beach, and we’ve spent a happy time in the hot tub too and dealt with a power cut as well! Isn’t it great to spend time with colleagues who are also friends, and who you kno...