I was in a head and neck ward. So I was there with people who had… well… swollen faces. Familiar swollen faces. With feeding tubes in their noses and patches on their throats announcing that they had, not too long ago, had tracheostomies. Oh how I felt for them. It suddenly felt not so long…
Category: People
Physio
You might remember that in hospital I had the most awesome physio, Kat. She was the perfect blend of sympathetic and no-nonsense, which must be so important when you’re dealing with people coming out of a big, potentially life-changing surgery. She’s not going to let you lie around and feel sorry for yourself, but she’s…
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…
A few of the amazing nurses on my first trip to ICU
The first thing was to work out a way to communicate with people. How else would I make friends? The first notebook Dad got for me said on the front ‘Be your own kind of beautiful’. Seemed fitting, since I would definitely be challenging the normal ideas of ‘beautiful’ for some time (someone did just…
A note to you all
To all my sarcoma friends who have found their way here, it seriously means so much that you’re reading. You’re all fantastic and inspiring and even if the most we’ve done is smiled and said hi as we’ve passed in the corridor, you’re my family and we’re in this together! I think the world of…
‘Alternatives’
So today we had a handyman around to fix the lock on our bathroom door and one of our light switches. They were popping out to pick up some things and asked if I was going to be home, and I said ‘yeah, I’m currently recovering from chemotherapy, so I ain’t really going anywhere’ and…
The Cancer Chronicles 