Treatment Day 86

Greetings All from a warm and muggy Orchard Cottage.

Finally made it home after completing my Radiotherapy treatment (30 sessions over six weeks)on Wednesday 18th August. The last week had been pretty tough with my tongue ulcers and very sore throat making eating, sleeping, swalllowing and more or less everything else difficult. I have lost about 10KGs in the process so far, athough thanks to some stalwart cooking by Lucy and now sister Pippa who arrived from the US on Sunday, my weight has stabilised and I am now beginning the rebuilding process.

The fact that I am not being either poisoned or zapped on a daily basis had got to be good news for my body which, for a 50 something is holding together reasonably well. The skin on my neck has reacted to the RT by going bright red and blistering in a few places (normal apparently). Thankfully it is on the mend already following no more RT.

The big question of whether the treatment has kicked my cancer into touch cannot be answered unfortunately for a few months until my neck and throat area really settle down. I have little doubt that the tumour has been booted into kingdom come and thank you to everyone who continue to pray for just this result.

Being home makes such a difference to the healing process as I have said previously. Thanks to the generosity of Chris and Michaela, we were able to experience the next best thing (being in someone else's home!) over the last week and a half at 15 Caroline Terrace. Being 10 minutes from the hospital made daily treatment a breeze and the girls had a good taste of London living (and yep they want some more!). A huge thank you again.

So, I have no excuses but to get back to full strength in record time with two resident chefs (at least for the next week) and a team of masseurs and E45 applicators. I have to say I have never felt so weak and lacking in energy before which has come as a bit of a shock. It means the recovery process is likely to be longer than I would like but hey ho, one day at a time is a good pace to go with at the moment.

I hope everyone in the Northern Hemisphere is having a fab summer (UK August has been awful - June July were warm and very dry) and that everyone in the Southern Hemisphere is getting some good turns in at every opportunity.

Love and best wishes to you all.

God bless.

Stephen