It rears its head once more

I didn’t bother going to the supermarket with the Fox this week. It was raining & I didn’t see much point in just sitting in the car in the rain.

It’s just as well I didn’t go as I got a phone call from the hospital.  My immediate thought was which hospital, Lancaster or Wythenshawe? It was the RLI (Royal Lancaster Infirmary). The nurse was just checking I’d received the appointment later this week with the radiotherapist. I hadn’t. Suffice to say I now have a telephone appointment with the radiotherapist on Friday to discuss post-operative radiotherapy for my shoulder.

Since hearing I was cancer-free I have been walking on air in celebratory mood. I suddenly landed. In some ways I was quite relieved, in that the surgeon who’d operated on me had suggested radiotherapy might be a good idea. The wait for the decision is now over. Whether I go ahead will be decided on Friday.

I don’t particularly object to radiotherapy. I’m not sure it achieved much when I had some in 2017 but it wasn’t unduly uncomfortable nor did it leave me with adverse side effects. It was just very tiring travelling down to Preston some 34 miles away, five days a week for a few weeks. My anxiety lies with the COVID-19 epidemic. How safe will the hospital be? This time there won’t be the option of eating out if we have a late appointment. I’m telling myself we’re moving into salad season. Surely no matter how tired we are we could put a few salad ingredients together for a meal.

I was just adjusting to the news when I got another phone call from one of my cousins. She’s being tested for pancreatic cancer. Both her mother, my father’s sister, & my mother died of this form of cancer. As it is my cousin has already had one breast removed 5 or so years ago due to breast cancer.

I’m becoming more & more convinced that my mother was right. Cancer runs strong in my family. This will be my cousin's second episode of cancer, as I am on my third. Other cousins, aunts, my mother & grandmothers & one uncle that I know of have died with it. The type of cancer differs but it always seem to emerge sooner or later. The difference is these days there are better treatments to hopefully keep it under control. I’ve had 20 years more life since my first bout. My cousin is now waiting to hear from her hospital to discover if the diagnosis is definite. I just hope all goes well for her. It’s time I repaid the support she’s given me through my last two doses  of cancer with some support for her as she faces her probable next encounter with the big C.