Hey guys back from another blissful weekend in Cardiff visiting my boys. Was a quiet one but man did we have a good couple of lie-ins, guess it was needed. I am making up for lost sleep me thinks! We discussed so many things, already talking about Bonfire night, Halloween, Christmas and wedding stuff too lol! Nathan had wedding hair to do on Saturday morning in Chepstow of all places which is almost next door to our chosen venue. We just had to do a sneaky drive by 😉

I feel like this year has flown by with all my time spent focused on getting the Chemo part over with and maintaining my sanity at the same time. It’s almost August and still some time to go yet before I can put this all behind me. I am now feeling anxious to crack on with the next part of my treatment, as long as I am comfortable with the side effects, short and long term.

Work was manic last week I must admit, Denis and I got home at 830 pm on Thursday. Knackered.com! Still don’t have all my energy back but I am doing the best I can. Luckily I can still get a lot of work done at home, even meetings with the CAA can be organised outside of the office when needed. The freelance flight attendant business was like putting together pieces of a puzzle, if you would have told me you have a nice shift dress and can serve up an M&S ready meal, I may have booked you lol! Trying to get back into the gym as much as possible too but it really gets me down that I can’t do what I used to on the cardio front. Small steps Mark, take it easy! He says. CT class today was killer! I’ll be lucky to be able to limp into work tomorrow haha.

Well today was the big day and I was off to London Bridge Hospital to meet Professor George Mikhaeel at Guys Cancer Centre. I booked the train yesterday and saw that I could upgrade to first for a mere £6 so thought WTF treat yourself lol. Oh how the other half live. Well once you come out of London Bridge Station you are at the Shard right, its so bloody posh, the station, the surroundings and not to mention the Cancer Care Building, it only opened 3 months ago. How can I describe it, like a ‘W’ Hotel, whatever whenever sort of thing. Concierge desk in the lobby and greeted by a lovely lady who says we work by colours here, hope you remember them from primary school. Floor H and the colour is blue on the button in the lift, hilarious. Well impressed with this place!

It was love at first sight so to speak and I now know why Dr Marcus referred me to him. You know me and chemistry. He is so lovely, kind and very knowledgeable. He knows my case well and before talking radiotherapy and lymphoma, he asks me so many questions about myself, where do I live, do I live alone, what do I do for work, medical history. I am a size 7 shoe I wanted to add, and a 31 no scratch that 32 waist lol. Great approach and he listens well too, which is so bloody important. I tell my story, I have told it many times, but he wants all the details. He is busy typing it all into the PC. My case is quite unique and rare. To have it so localised and in such a small amount is not common at all. Hence how I managed to escape the dreaded ‘Stem Cell Transplant’.

I compliment the hospital and the rooms, they are so modern and bright. He tells me that patients were involved with the architects at the time giving their views on what they wanted in a hospital. It certainly does not resemble a hospital in any way. It’s simply stunning. It actually puts you in the right mood, a mood of well-being.

Then onto the subject of radiotherapy and the side effects and how it all works. It’s really serious business. It involves making a cast of my head and neck etc so that they can mark exactly where I will need the targeted treatment. I will need to wear this for each session, can’t wait for the selfies lol. They no longer just scribble all over you with a black marker like they used to do he tells me 😉 I will need a CT scan and it will involve 17 sessions, Mon-Fri every week for just over 3 weeks. I even get to choose the time frame, magic! He estimates the treatment to start in 3 weeks time.

Side effects are possible but rare, he will avoid the saliva glands as much as possible to avoid dry mouth, and also the good thing is that I only had a little on the right side of my neck so they can avoid that side of the thyroid gland, as this is one of the long term effects. Immediate side effects into the treatment include skin irritation, a very sore throat (as this is the targeted area) and a change in the taste buds. All of these should go away in time after treatment. Some people complain of fatigue, possible once well into and past the 2nd week of treatment.

So before I knew it I was signing the consent forms which are a big part of today’s health care, all the risks are listed and you just have to agree and trust in the care being offered. I have faith in the consultant and in the care I have been lucky enough to have experienced so far. So let’s get on with the show.

Until next time peeps, thanks for reading and for being a part of my story.

Love and Light X