Tuesday 21st June 2011

I just want to add a little bit to today's notes.

I have just returned from the hairdressers where my hairdresser managed to tidy my hair up and begin the shaping for my new hair.  It was such a good feeling to have what little hair I have washed and looked after as if nothing had ever happened.  Life is certainly looking up.

Tuesday 21 June 2011

Yesterday was a normal day off for Bill and me as we work on Sunday at Riverside and finally I am getting back to normal life.  No more train rides into the hospital for some time.  I finished my radiotherapy on Saturday; having started a day late; so I had to do six sessions last week.  T he radiologist asked me to come and visit them to say hello when I am next in the hospital; for some reason that is not top of my list that I would like to do.  Nothing personal to the staff who were all extremely nice but I really don’t want to visit that part of the hospital for some time to come.  The nicest thing that the radiologist doctor, who I saw last week, said to me was “See you in a years’ time”, so that is when I will go back to that department.  Unless you have been there you cannot imagine how good that sounded.  When I talked to the doctor last week she pointed out that where the radio on my body was being done was very red and inflamed.  I thought that was normal but evidently I was allergic to the cream that she had given me.  This meant that I had to buy a new cream and put that on.  It is still red and I am not sure how long it will take to go back to normal coloured skin.  Until the skin is back to normal it is best not to sit in the sun; after all I do not want to make it worse.

So what do I have to look forward to?  I need a reconstruction so that I am not looking lopsided.  That sounds like it will be at the beginning of next year; unless I can persuade them to do it earlier.   My main aim at the moment is to rebuild my strength and get back to full health.  With the weather is being good at the moment exercise is easy; especially as Bill needs to keep his exercising up as well.  Our new thing is to go out on the bicycles as often as we can.  We have a lovely cycle track only minutes from the house so we are currently checking how far we can go on that.

I thank God for all the support that we both have had.  May I be able to support people as much as my family and friends have supported me.

Tuesday 14th June 2011

Well it is over two weeks since I last wrote; I have celebrated my 60^th birthday and spent a great week with the family who came from the UK to celebrate with us.  During the same week Bill and I celebrated our 40^th wedding anniversary.    I admit that the way we celebrated both wasn’t one I would have chosen.  I have done 19 days of radiotherapy and have 6 days left.  On my birthday I spent a good 3 hours at the hospital seeing the doctor and then going on to radio.  The doctor’s comments were positive; she is very pleased with the way things are going.  As for me,  I am tired; so tired that I come home from the hospital and sleep for a while before I can carry on the rest of the day.  From Monday to Friday my day goes like this – get out of bed, shower, eat breakfast and walk along to the train station where I first catch the train and then from there ride the metro to the hospital.  I normally arrive at the hospital around about 11am.  In the hospital it is a first come first served in the treatment and people have been arriving from 8:30 if not earlier.   The waiting time varies from 1 hour to 2 hours; on a bad day it can be worse.  Fortunately most days Flavia comes and picks me up and takes me home which is great as this saves about half an hour or more.    I have 6 more treatments to go and then I can catch up with sleep, relax and begin to enjoy normal life again.

The effect from radiotherapy is nowhere near as bad as chemo.  Inwardly I don’t feel sick or anything like that at all.  What I am feeling after 4 weeks is what feels like sun burn.  The patch where the radiologists are doing the treatment is now quite red and itches a lot.  I have been told to use two lots of cream, one Nivea and the other one that was prescribed from the doctor, which is actually a burn cream.  I use the burn cream two or three times as it stops it itching and the Nivea at night to soften the skin; especially the scar from the hospital.  At least I only have a week to go.

My hair is beginning to grow and soon I will be going to the hairdressers; not to really have it cut but for her to start to shape it a bit.  I actually started washing it during the last week which feels really strange after so long.  I only use the stuff that I shower with as it is a non chemical one which is ok for what hair I have got – but at least it is a start. 

On Friday the 8^th it was a public holiday here in Porto and Bill and I met up with other members of the American Club for a game of softball.  Neither of us plays and anyway we were late as although being a holiday I still had treatment.  It was lovely just to sit on the grass in the sun, having a chat with friends and feel like I was living a normal life.  These days have been rare.

I am now beginning to look forward to the days which don’t have treatment and visits to the hospital.  There will be the odd couple of days over the months when I have to visit the hospital to check with the doctor etc but those I will be able to live with.