Before I get onto talking about the promised topic of salt (it will all become apparent soon), I wanted to say just how much each and every comment on my previous post meant to me. I’ve read them all and smiled a lot. I generally try to get through and reply to them but I possibly fail more than I succeed with that anyway, but I’ve been so busy in Australia that I’ve not really had the time to get to replying to them all yet. But please do know how much they do mean to me – it means so much to know you’re all reading these little updates from me, and it’s always pretty special when you interact too (not that I expect it). Very grateful to have you all along for the ride. Thank you. You specifically, you make a big difference in this little life. Well, big life, really.

Right, well, salt. I mentioned in my last post, my Radiotherapy Oncologist having slightly varied his communication style (i.e trying not to constantly tell me I’m about to die), resulting in me having more respect for him, just in time for our last clinic appointment together. Well, at least it did happen, and he took the feedback onboard.

But something else that gave me even more respect for him, is this next bit. Something I wouldn’t expect an NHS Oncologist to think of, let alone suggest. They’re already overloaded just trying to get the basic treatment out to everyone who needs it, I wouldn’t expect them to think of additional things to try…

So I’d spoken to him over the phone at the end of Radiotherapy, in the call where I told him that the pain had disappeared during radiotherapy, and he nearly fell off his chair. In that call, he mentioned that they’d noticed when they’d scanned me during my zapping one day, that my sinuses had completely filled with… something. Mucus probably makes the most sense to me, but ok, I guess we’ll go with ‘something’ – they don’t like to commit unless they (think they) know for sure.

This suddenly explained to me another problem I’d been having – post radiotherapy, my remaining eye sporadically got gloopy stuff in it, which irritated it so much that I would go through periods of not being able to see, which wasn’t ideal considering, well… I only really have the one seeing device left, so I kinda rely on it… Anyway, everyone (medical people, that is, not like… the owner of my local coffee shop) kept trying to tell me it was an infection, but I didn’t think it was. Eventually I spoke to a doctor who was apparently from my GP, except that the call came from a private clinic in King’s Cross, which made me think that the NHS might outsource some of their workload if they’re struggling… and after he checked via a quick photo that I didn’t need to rush to A&E (huh?), he said ‘most eye problems are really sinus problems’. ‘Hey, I said, what do you think of this…’

I filled him in on the whole sinus thing and we agreed that it probably wasn’t an infection, he said my theory was almost definitely correct, and it just kind of reminded me that I really do tend to know what’s going on in my body better than other people do… Even more than medical professionals a lot of the time…

The eye thing pretty much settled down, but my last set of scans showed that my sinuses were still full. My radiotherapy Oncologist, in our last meeting, suggested I try anything I can to clear them, because it’s not great to have them just sitting around full of… ‘stuff’. He then suggested the salt rooms… He said he’d been there once to check it out and it was interesting… you basically sit in a room filled with salt, and it’s meant to help people with sinus and breathing problems. I wasn’t sure how it would have much of an effect on me – my sinuses are completely blocked off from surgery, they can’t drain or anything… But hey, I’ll try anything. I was also impressed that an NHS Onologist suggested something that felt… complementary.

So I found a deal for two sessions at the salt rooms for £13 or something and went along. I was shown into a weird room which was filled with white powder and had a few chairs in it. I was in there on my own, which was nice I guess. I had a moment where I wondered if I might panic considering it was like a cave with a low ceiling and no external windows, but thankfully I could just open the door and walk out at any point – I wasn’t trapped, so i decided panicking wasn’t necessary. I had two meditations planned to listen to back to back for the hour long session. I went to the bathroom quickly just after my session started and when I came back I managed to sink into the salt (which was like really fine sand dust), nearly fall over, drop my phone which got covered in white powder, eventually managing to make it back to my chair, where I sat for an hour…

Yeah I mean it was ok. Did it clear my sinuses? Don’t really think so. It was a bit of a trek to get there, being a bit over half hour walk from Walthamstow, but it was an interesting experience. I had a beautiful evening taking photos along the way of beautiful snowy London in the setting sun, then slipped through the ice in the dark on the way home. But hey, another experience to add to the ever growing list.