Saturday 31 December 2016

Red & itchy



As per instructions I have been moisturising my left breast daily, ready for the radiotherapy. I’ve been using the recommending moisturiser, E45. I’ve been doing this for the last couple of weeks.

Today I’ve abandoned it. By now my abdomen, shoulder & upper arm, right breast, are all covered by what looks like a red rash. It is becoming increasingly itchy & a little blistery looking. As for my left breast it is feeling sorer than it did after the op. Clearly this moisturiser is not for me.

Now I’m just hoping the skin will have settled down by Tuesday so the treatment can go ahead.  Maybe the hospital can suggest an alternative moisturiser. Or maybe, if my skin is truly dried out after the treatment, the skin will react differently. I’m sceptical.

Either way it will not stop me achieving the main purpose of this blog. And that is to wish you all

Happy New Year

And to thank you all for any words of support, not to mention cyberhugs, you’ve sent. I’m just hoping 2017 is going to be a good year, better than this for us.

Friday 30 December 2016

Further worries



The Fox is worried. He got up yesterday after his post-prandial nap, with a sore throat. He felt he could hardly swallow. He fears he’s going down with flu. There’s been a lot of it floating around here & it’s not the variety for which the flu jab was designed. I suggest he took some paracetamol. Things seem to settle down again.

By the time I went to bed, he was feeling a lot better. Nonetheless he was determined to clear the decks of any on-line chores e.g. getting bills paid, just in case things got worse.

When he finally got to bed he assured me he was feeling fine. However, an hour later he was up again. His throat was sore & he was feeling woozy. He got up & had some more paracetamol.

I now wait to see how he’ll feel after some sleep. I’m hoping it’s just one of those symptoms of being a bit run-down rather than actual illness. Flu is the last thing we need. My radiotherapy is due to start on Tuesday, & there’s very little chance of him going down with, & recovering from, full blown flu in that time.

If necessary I will have to organise hospital transport to get me to hospital, though a neighbour has kindly offered to take me to hospital if I ever need transport through this period. However, I don’t think he was thinking of Preston, just Lancaster.

And what if I get flu from the Fox? I can’t very well go & get my treatment in that state. It would have to be delayed. I’m telling myself not to worry on that score. I’ve never had flu in my life despite being put on flu wards with a bad cold. But there is a bit of me that says my resistance may have been weakened with my body fighting cancer at the moment &, for that matter, my getting older. There’s no denying that flu seems to hit the elderly harder.

Oh well, there’s nothing can be done, except keep our fingers crossed & hope it’s just one of those 24/48 hour blips.

Wednesday 28 December 2016

Getting prepared



Later today the Fox is due for his second massage. This time he’s really looking forward to it. Clearly he found it did him some good. He’s aware now how tense his body is becoming once more & so feels the need of the relax the massage forces. I’m hoping, too, that I will have another good conversation in the lounge. I will be taking my puzzle book just in case I’m on my own.

It has to be admitted, Slynedales, the house Cancer Care is based in, is a lovely, peaceful building with good Georgian proportions. It’s surrounded by trees that give the place a rural feeling even though it is on the outskirts of the city of Lancaster.  The very building is conducive to a feeling of escape from the worries of the world, & I suppose, of cancer.

As last time, we shall follow the massage with the fight around Morrisons supermarket. We were reassured to notice a delivery van coming from there yesterday so hopefully the shelves have been restocked after the pre-Christmas onslaught. Regardless we need a shop this week. After the New Year Bank Holiday, I will be starting my radiotherapy so when we will get another chance is anybody’s guess. I’m hoping if we’re well stocked up at the start we will only need the odd top up while the course goes on. We’ll certainly need milk & probably bread but those can be bought from the local corner shops as we pass. The freezer’s fairly full up with pre-prepared meals that will just need heating up in an evening.

My anxiety about the food shop is due to not knowing the daily schedule but knowing just the trip down to Preston is going to be time-consuming & exhausting, as well as being unsure as to how I will react to the actual treatment. Hopefully all will go well. We gather from another patient we chatted to last time we were down in Preston, that there is a big Booth’s supermarket just opposite the hospital though we saw no sign of it the way we came in. Maybe that will be the answer.