About this Blog

This blog started as an online diary and place for me to rant about annoyances in my family.

However since July it has become a place for me to catalogue and express my views and opinions on the treatment I have recieved following the diagnosis of a potentially cancerous tumor in my bowel.

On 3rd August 2011 I was told that it was cancerous. In April 2012 I was given the all clear.

October 15th 2013 I was diagnosed with peritoneal disease and liver metastases. The cancer was back and this time it is inoperable.

It is a little bit out of date as the NHS doesn't tend to have a WiFi connection in hospital and I can only post when I get home and posts take a while to write.

It is NOT about individuals or the nursing profession. It is about some of the inadequacies in the system and the way the NHS is failing some people.

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Friday, 16 May 2014

some random musings

Just over  a year ago I wrote a post about how much I hated being pregnant, but how I loved how my body bounced back and how much breastfeeding helped with the weight loss. I had found that after each of my children I had dropped a dress size without really doing much different, except running around after more and more children. I even speculated as to how many I would have to have to be down to a size 10.
How times change. I am now that fabled size 8-10 and have been since October. I hate it. I still look in the mirror and hate what I see. I look ill and drawn. I look tired and no amount of amazing make up or BB cream is going to improve that, especially when my body has me up and down several times a night and regularly waking in pain at 5.30am as all my medication starts to wear off.
Add in the 3 children under 6, who wake in the night because they are ill or who don’t go to sleep because they have had a nap during the day at the wrong time and I am permanently exhausted. 
Of course, I don’t show it all. I try and put a confident, friendly brave face on it but inside I am falling apart. 
The palliative care I am receiving is excellent, but while sometimes the pain relief is adequate sometimes it just isn’t enough. I see the consultants and have to be honest that sometimes I feel the pain relief is adequate and sometimes i am swearing and squirming in pain. If you took one look at me you probably wouldn’t guess it though.
At the moment though, as the weather warms up I am waiting for someone to congratulate me. 
Why? You might ask. Well I told you that my tumour hadn’t responded to treatment and hadn’t shrunk. The truth is, its not just bloating, but I look as though i am 5 months pregnant at the moment and I can only imagine that it is going to get bigger and bigger. 
Now that I have had time to come to terms with the fact that my tumour is growing I have been thinking about what the options are. I wonder whether surgery to remove part of the tumour might now be an option as it makes my stomach so tender and uncomfortable. 
I struggle with lifting my children and cuddling them. rolling over in bed can be painful and no matter how many wheat bags or heat packs I use, how many paracetamol I take I cannot seem to manage the pain. What i need is liquid paracetamol which works incredibly fast and well. but no one seems to believe me, when I have been in hospital i have had to fight for the liquid stuff as it works so much better for me than capsules or tablets. 

Anyway back to the matter at hand. I am slowly coming to terms with what has happened over the last week. But make no mistake I am still coming to terms with this momentous moment. So, i’m sorry if having a coffee or lunch is not a priority for me right now. I need to focus on my health and managing expectations over the next few months. 

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