I’m sorry that I haven’t updated my blog for SUCH a long time – but the truth of the matter is I simply haven’t felt up to it. Since my fifth chemo session, I have been in hospital five times, spending at least three days each time. Mainly to do with chemo side affects, but also dehydration. Anyway, I will come to that later on, first of all was the PICC insertion which I was really dreading, I mean, how can they get a line to go up a vein on my arm, round the bend towards my heart? I know they’ve done it maybe a 1000 times before, but that didn’t reassure me. I read on one Bowel Cancer page that it didn’t hurt just a bit of pressure whilst they try to do it, so that put me in a better place.

The day arrived and to say I was a big of a mess is an understatement – I put on a brave face for the sake of Phil and we made our way to Hamwic House.

Once there I went into a small office where I was told about the things that could go wrong and there were a lot but I was also told that the procedure was routine. I signed my life away and went into the room where the procedure would take place. The nurse who was going to do it was very nice and she put me at my ease. The comments on Facebook were right, it didn’t hurt at all, I didn’t feel a thing and after about 20 minutes I was able to go home.

I never realised how much this PICC line would help me, it is used for the chemotherapy, the same way in which a cannula is used and it can also be used for blood tests which is a godsend for me as getting blood out of me is a little tricky.

The next day I was to have my first chemotherapy session. Again, I was nervous not knowing what to expect but I found the atmosphere relaxing and even was served coffee, sandwiches and crisps at lunchtime! Due to Covid no-one was allowed to sit with me during this time, but my treatment only lasted about three hours and with the constant visitors of nurses and the Macmillan nurse, the time really did go fast.

The first three chemo sessions seemed to go according to plan. Yes, I had side affects: tingling in my fingers and hand when I touched something cold, tingling of the face when it was cold outside, what is known as first-bite syndrome, when you take a bite of something it is quite painful, food was tasteless and a general feeling of nausea.

I had to have a pump attached to me for 48 hours after the chemo session, which continued pumping in the chemo and then after that time a district nurse would come and disconnect me from it. It was a feeling of freedom when that was detached.

Session four took a bit more of a toll on me, I ended up in hospital as I was quite breathless and after they took an X-ray discovered I had a blood clot on my lung, so I had to inject myself every night and morning with a blood thinner.

After session five I felt like I had been hit with a hammer, I was in hospital for a further four times, suffering with acute kidney injury as I was constantly dehydrated. I think that this was because of the stoma bag because it would fill up quite quickly after eating and so the food and water was passing through me too fast for me to gain any benefit from it.

I have to say that I saw some very colourful characters in hospital (that’s a whole another blog!) and I admire the nurse’s patience in dealing with them, I’m not so sure I would be so patient.

The last time I was in hospital they gave me an iron infusion which certainly made me feel a whole lot better. I was discharged and I then seemed to turn a corner, I’ve been drinking lots and have been leading quite a normal life, even going to Swanage for a few days in a caravan.

The only thing now is that my hair is falling out quite a bit, it’s really very thin now so I’ve taken to wearing a baseball cap, really trying to put off having to either have my hair cut short or even shaved off.

My body rejected the PICC line and it started to come out, so it was removed, which means that when I have a blood test it’s a bit of a nightmare – one time in hospital it took six different people to get the blood, you can imagine how bruised my arms were!

At the moment I am trying to get fit for the operation to remove the tumour which will probably be in the next eight weeks. I have an MRI and CT scan at the end of this month and a fitness test.

My tally of scans etc., is:

MRI scans	3
CT scans	4
X-Rays	3
PET scan	1
Ultrasound scans	2

So there you have it, that’s my journey up until now. It’s amazing to think this all started back in November, it really has gone so fast. Once again, thank you to everyone for their kind messages and care packages and flowers, they are all so appreciated.