Living with cancer: A Christmas message
So I’ve now had three rounds of chemotherapy. The third one was tougher. I suffered peripheral neuropathy (painful prickling in my fingers and toes, and mild spasms of my lips) when exposed to the cold. I know I’ve not had it as badly as some do, but it’s a pretty...
My cancer story. Part 9: Scan reality check and doubling up the drugs
The week I started chemo, I had a baseline CT scan which the doctors will compare to another scan that will be done after three months of treatment to determine whether the chemo is working. As I also had a CT scan when I was first admitted to hospital at the end of...
My cancer story. Part 8: starting chemotherapy
Chemotherapy 101: chemotherapy is treatment for cancer using drugs. There are a lot of different chemo drugs available; some are given intravenously (into the blood), and some orally as tablets. Whilst chemotherapy is becoming increasingly sophisticated and targeted,...
Living with cancer: it’s okay to have down days
In an earlier post I talked about seeing the positive in every day, something I 100% believe in. But I think it’s also important to accept that it’s not possible to feel positive all of the time, after all, we’re only human! I had a tough week this week, and needed a...
My cancer story. Part 7: Radiotherapy (and my first tattoo)
Radiotherapy 101: a little down low on what radiotherapy entails. Basically it is very strong x-rays that are used to nuke (non technical term) tumours. It is very targeted which means that the side effects generally aren’t too bad (although that does depend on the...
My cancer story. Part 6: Making peace with an incurable prognosis
My cancer is incurable. That’s what I was told on Wednesday. I’m sorry if that’s a shock or upsetting to any of you reading this, but I have to face this like I’ve faced everything else so far, head on, refusing to be beaten. That’s not to say it wasn’t both a shock...
My cancer story. Part 5: finding the positives
So there we go, that is everything to date, I am typing this on day 11 after the surgery, sat at my desk (albeit with plenty of cushions for comfort), and rather slowly given my poor hand function which hasn’t improved yet. That’s definitely the hardest part at the...
My cancer story. Part 4: spinal surgery
Whilst I was under no illusion that the spinal surgery was a serious operation, at this point I didn’t feel I had any choice. My right hand function was deteriorating by the day, which was making even the simplest day to day activity hard and made being alone with...
My cancer story. Part 3: diagnosis
On 18thSeptember 2018 I went back to the Royal London for a follow up for my blood clot. While I was there I’d arranged to see the doctors for an update on any biopsy results. And that’s when we were given the news. The biopsy showed that the mass in my spine was a...
My cancer story. Part 2: a bad back and a hospital admission
Things started to change in April 2018 when I woke up in the middle of the night as my back went pop. Literally, it was awful. I was in agonising pain but went to a chiropractor who had me pain free again in just a few days. Phew. Except then it happened again 6 weeks...
My cancer story. Part 1: Before
I’m Caroline. I’m a mum, a wife, a student nutritional therapist, a very driven person, a lover of food and yoga. I’m passionate about health and well-being and I’ve spent the past couple of years transforming myself from a stressed, high flying businesswoman to a...