If you’re aged between, say, 16 and 30, and you’re engaged in small talk at a social event, here’s what happens: questions. A lot of questions. Questions like: What GCSEs are you taking?What A-Levels are you taking?What extra-curriculars are you doing?Have you started to learn to drive?Who are you taking to prom?What do you want … More On living in the moment when nobody else is
What does a cancer diagnosis feel like? One of my favourite Michael Bublé covers is “That’s life”, originally by Frank Sinatra. One of the lyrics is “…you’re riding high in April, shot down in May” – a line I’d never given much thought to until 2022 happened. Here’s me riding high in April… …and shot … More Riding high in April, shot down in May
“After this cycle I’m taking the PET-CT results to the MDT to discuss ABVD vs BEACOPP efficacy chance on EFS. We also need more filgrastim to help prevent neutropenia and an X-ray and ultrasound to check PICC line positioning.” When I entered the cancer world, a few months prior to my consultant uttering these words, … More An A-Z of Chemo for Lymphoma
As I sat waiting in the oncology ward today, a man sat in front of me wearing a hat that said “THIS IS YOUR EVEREST.” Interesting, I thought. I suppose cancer treatment is the toughest endurance test many of us will face. It does seem right to compare it to summiting Everest, the highest mountain … More This Is Your Everest
Here are my final five top tips for chemo. To read the first ten, click here for Part 1 and click here for Part 2. Track your symptoms but prepare for chaos In theory, because chemo is given in cycles, it is possible to track your symptoms and work out how you will be feeling on … More Top Tips for Chemo (Part 3)
Here are five more top tips for chemo. To read the first five, click here for Part 1. Be prepared for both mind-numbing boredom and total over-stimulation A lot of my chemo days felt like going to school. I was dropped off for 9, my dropper-offer delivering me to the receptionist who checked my name … More Top Tips for Chemo (Part 2)
“Chemo is your friend, they said……it nukes the cells, it knocks ‘em dead!” Chemotherapy is the process of using cytotoxic drugs to kill cancer cells, that is cells that are dividing uncontrollably. They don’t just kill the cancer cells though, they also kill normal fast-dividing healthy cells, like hair cells, which leads to all sorts … More Top Tips for Chemo (Part 1)
Originally published on Shine Cancer Support. When something terrible happens, we don’t know what to say. We spend our schooldays learning how to play the recorder, apply Pythagoras’ theorem and recite Shakespeare verbatim. We spend no time at all learning how to be human and deal with the pain that life inevitably brings. I’ve spent … More When there are no words: what to say to the newly diagnosed
“Your hair will drop out if we use this kind of chemo, but it will grow back” my consultant said, not realising the emotional impact his statement had on me. I shrunk inside and touched my head protectively as the sentence rang in my ears. Despite being told I had a life-threatening illness, the hair … More “It will grow back” and other thoughts on hair loss
I tell all my colleagues that I’ll be back soonAs I slip from the office one spring afternoonTo a wonky blue chair in a brightly lit roomWhere I’m hit by a barrage of words spelling doom The shock takes my breath in the brutal surpriseI taste salt from the tears as they stream from my … More What does cancer feel like?
Laura writes... 