It’s hard work, all of this ‘recovery’ business! It’s now 9 weeks since I went in to hospital and 7 weeks since I got out. I’m starting to feel a little bit better. Each day I have to do a whole stream of exercises for my shoulder, which I must repeat multiple times throughout the…
Author: Jen Eve
I've had cancer, twice. But I am more than that. I'm a writer, musician, and an optimist.
The kindness of strangers
I want to take you back to the Friday before I went in to surgery. I had been at work that day and as the day was drawing to a close, my friend said ‘so… Pub…?’. It was just us three close friends left in the office and it turned out we all had a…
A moment for a thought for Amy and anyone else with a terminal diagnosis…
I haven’t really had to deal with death much, aside from elderly grandparents. A pseudo friend died of Leukaemia when I was 17. Another friend from school died a few years after. That’s about it. Since I’ve been diagnosed with cancer I’ve managed to get into a huge community on Twitter of other people who…
The challenges that being home presented…
And so it was that two weeks and one day after the first of my major surgeries, I was allowed to go home. And you know what? It was hard work. Really hard work. It was such a relief, and I was finally able to relax for the first time in 2 weeks, and it…
The final bits…
With the trachy out, it was time to start breathing through my mouth. My nose was entirely blocked so there was no chance of it helping me out. My mouth got so dry. Night time was the worst. I already wasn’t sleeping much, but now my mouth and throat were dry and burning. And I…
Little adventures
On day 13 of my hospital stay, Kat the Physio said I was allowed to go for a little adventure, so I actually got to leave the ward and we went up to Level 16 and looked out at the view. UCLH has a tall tower, and is situated pretty in the middle of London,…
Trachy tales
While a lot of the point of this post is really to say ‘Kat the Physio is amazing’, because I definitely haven’t given her enough time yet, I feel I also need to talk a little bit more about the Tracheostomy. The concept is great. Hole in the neck to breathe through, so no matter…
Meet my Surgeons (otherwise known as best friends)
I think it is time to introduce you all to my surgeons. These guys honestly became my life line, they felt like my best friends – visiting me each day, telling me things were going well… I knew they were looking out for me. They didn’t all visit me every time, sometimes a lot of…
Struggles and some gory details…
At this point I was waking up every morning not able to open my eyes, as well as being cold, wet and covered in blood. It was pretty grim. I couldn’t breathe through my nose or close my mouth. I had blood and yellow discharge streaming out of my nose, and blood and saliva running…
The second trip to the ward in 3 days…
When I was transferred to the ward for the second time in 3 days, I was back in a shared ward. Thankfully this time there was no one wailing all night like there had been the time before (I remember writing to my nurse saying ‘just give her sleeping tablets and give me sleeping tablets…
The Cancer Chronicles 