Spreading the news

Yesterday I decided the time had come. No putting it off any longer. I got down to the task of ringing the family & letting them know about the op. They don’t often read my blogs these days – eyesight problems as they’ve hit their late 70s.

Needless to say they were shocked, & surprised knowing, that I’ve had cancer once before. They reckon one in two people will get cancer in their lifetime. My cousins have concluded I’ve had the Fox’s bout too.

It turned out to be useful, talking to my cousin Pat. Long term readers may remember she had breast cancer herself a few years ago. Her problems these days lie rather with arthritis, particularly in her legs.

Anyhow, Pat was able to tell me of some of her experience of having an op, its after-effects, of radiotherapy & chemo & their effects too. We agreed my reactions may not be the same. Indeed, to some extent they must differ in that she had to have a mastectomy (full breast removal) while I am having a lumpectomy (partial removal). Radiotherapy hadn’t bothered her but she found the different courses of chemotherapy, with their different drugs, had different effects, utterly unpredictable, never the same. She’s also suggested it might be worth trying to do some arm exercises before the op to make my left arm as strong as possible before in the hope that recovery may be faster.

After my chat to Pat I feel reassured about how things may happen & feel I can cope, though clearly it’s going to be a long haul. 

One thing we have decided on is a quiet Christmas at home. By then I’ll probably be in the midst of the trauma of chemo. It seems to be a waste to commit to a big expensive meal, to possibly find myself feeling nauseous due to the chemo. A small light meal may well be more appealing & the Fox will manage to cook that if I’m not up to it. Precisely what we’ll cook we’ll decide later when we’ve seen how I’m reacting. Who knows I may yet not even have chemo in which case we can have our usual delicious roast at home.