Thursday 15 October 2015

Sorry I've been quiet

For the past month I have been very poorly.  I was admitted to hospital in Leicester on 15th September with abdominal pains and a a high temperature. After a course of antibiotics I was discharged after a week and allowed to go home.  Once at home my abdomen started to swell up with fluid, so I went back into hospital and was admitted again on Friday 25th to have an abdominal drain.  This gave me some relief and after this I was discharged again on Tuesday 29th.  Again at home I was ok for a few days but then the abdominal drain had not been as effective as the doctors had hoped so I ended back in hospital with more swelling on 6th October and now the only route was to get a permanent drain fitted via ultrasound which I had done on 7th October.  Although over the weekend I got very poorly with pain again and was taken to the local hospital in Birmingham by ambulance on Sunday morning

During all this time I have been in a lot of pain and discomfort, going in and out of hospital, trying different combinations of very strong painkillers along with all my other medications.  I've not been able to update enough people with my situation as its been such a roller coaster.  One day I've felt ok, the next day I've felt very poorly.  Just five weeks ago I was coping ok, still at work, independent, except for the side effects of my chemo I was not suffering any other symptoms, this change in my health has all happened very quickly.  The problems are all due to the fact that the cancer is in my liver which is a major organ and therefore pretty life threatening. 

Nobody ever discussed a prognosis with me when I was diagnosed with incurable cancer, I didn't want to know.  I already knew that my life expectancy was all due to the success of different treatments that were available. I had a vague idea that worst case scenario was probably six months but best case scenario could be a couple of years.  

I am now still in hospital in Birmingham and they have managed to keep me very comfortable, control my pain and manage my fluid levels.  I will be moving to the Marie Curie Hospice soon in Solihull where they will continue to care for me. 

My treatment for cancer is now being stopped as I am too poorly to tolerate chemo, the Doctor told me yesterday, he was very open and honest, which is what I wanted, I now have weeks left to live.  I haven't eaten properly for a month, I've lost a lot of weight, as long as I can try to keep my strength up this will improve my chances.

I would love to have visitors if anyone wants to come and see me, my younger sister is doing a great job of managing my visitor schedule.  Please get in touch with her via Facebook.  She is also running the Birmingham Half Marathon this weekend (along with my older sister) in aid of cancer research.  You can find the link to their just giving page on my Facebook. 

Bye for now! Thanks for reading.