Ticking away ... Day 1044 ~ a short update ...

The good news is that I'm going for a CT scan, blood tests and an ECG on Tuesday of next week with a whole body bone scan the following day.

If I get through the screening then I could well be starting the clinical trial a week on Tuesday.

The bad news is that I have been suffering quite a lot of pain in my back, groin and left thigh/knee. So bad in fact that I was put on Codeine painkillers for a week or so but when they weren't working I was given Tramadol, starting yesterday. Whilst the Tramadol helps I still have some pain. The two scans will no doubt tell us more !

I must have been feeling poorly because I haven't been online for a few days. I just wasn't interested. I haven't been out for a walk either. I can just about walk to the car and a little bit further and that is it.

I'm in pain as I type this so if you'll excuse me I'm heading downstairs to put my feet up.

As regards some of my other problems ~ the rash ... the 'swelling' ... these are much better than they were.

Stay well !

Ticking away ... Day 858 ~ mallet finger ...

As you may have noticed elsewhere I have been out walking for an hour or two at a time for five or six days and generally I'm doing OK.

 I'm off to have a bit of a check-up with the Lymphoedema Department at Ashgate Hospice tomorrow and then I've off for my monthly cancer check-up on Wednesday [after a bloodtest on Tuesday].

As if this wasn't enough I also now have to factor into the mix a visit to the hand clinic at Derby Royal Hospital.

It all started last night when I was taking off the compression stocking on my right leg. I slid both my hands firmly down my right calf to slide the stocking off ... but something didn't quite work out right. My left hand slipped and there was a sudden pain in the middle finger. 

The tip of the finger wouldn't straighten up ... 

 I bent it this way.

I bent it that.

It wouldn't straighten.

Was it dislocated. It didn't feel broken. In fact it didn't feel painful.

I jumped in the shower and as I washed my hair I was aware that it felt different. So I tootled along to the Minor Injuries Unit at the Whitworth Hospital. 

"That's mallet finger ..." said one of the nurses, Sheila "... you've torn a tendon". She fixed me up with a splint. A splint that will have to stay on for six to eight weeks. I can't bend my finger for six to eight weeks.





 If [when] I wash my left hand I have to keep my finger flat on a flat surface. 

I've had an x-ray this morning and there's no broken or chipped bone which would apparently have been better as bones heal better/quicker than tendons.

So ... Derby here I come ...

Ticking away ... Day 789 ~ I can't help myself ...

Time for another Prostap injection today. I watched the syringe slide into my tummy ... and I watched the syringe slide out. Fascinating. I hasten to add that it goes in at an angle and not straight in.

My next injection [in 12 weeks time] is the Friday before Good Friday. In other words the Friday before Easter.

My 'groin strain' is more uncomfortable than it used to be and I would think any 'serious' walking is out of the querstion for the time being. This is something of a setback for a walker [as in 'rambler']. I will just have to 'set back' [as some of our American cousins say] and dig the slowness for a time. It can be done.

The last time I saw my doctor he intimated that radiotherapy would hopefully improve the quality of life so lets hope it improves it enough to let me walk a bit more easily ... after I've had my CT Scan on the 10th January.

Finally if anyone thinks I'm doing these blogs to get attention then please move along as soon as possible. I don't ... I do it largely for anyone who finds themself in this sort of situation. 

Ticking away ... Day 750 ~ the very latest ...

Since my last update I have been fitted with a third stocking and by third I mean using a third set of measurements. This latest stocking is ok for walking once my leg gets a bit sweaty [there's no other way of putting it]. Then if I'm out walking it will stay up.

There may be another solution though ! Glue ! Yes, there is a type of glue that could work but I will be encouraged to make a donation for it as I can't get it on an NHS prescription. I think I might have to try the glue because on shorter walks [before my leg heats up] I have taken to dropping my trousers in secluded places and hoisting up my stocking as far as it will go ! If I get arrested for a public order offence I will be referring the authorities to this blog.

What else ?

I've had a pneumonia injection and a flu injection. I knew you could have the latter but had never heard of the former. Well, it seems because I have a weakened immune system [due to the chemotherapy I had] it is best I have them both. I didn't have them together though. I waited a week between them and had what felt like a bruised arm for a few days after each of them.

Two weeks on Wednesday I go back to the Cavendish Suite to have a check up it being three months since my last one. Bearing in mind that the doctor said the chemotherapy could work for just a few weeks or as long as 12-18 months [if I was lucky] I feel pleased that it is now some 7 months since I finished my chemotherapy and I feel ok. Still, a visit to the Cavendish Suite always gets my heart a-fluttering slightly. I won't be spending the next 16 days worrying about my next appointmenr though. I know it is a case of 'when' not 'if' ... and there are things to be done !

Ticking away ... Day 690 ~ Charlie ! Where's your troosers ?

One unforeseen development in my journey through life is the fact that, at the present time, I have no trousers that fit me.

I tend to wear shorts as much as I can especially when walking and when it's hot ... and of course I still have four or five hot flushes everyday. So, I've not had any trousers on for a few months ... 

Yesterday I was getting ready to go and have a coffee with Ruth, Hayley and Amber but all the Chinos I put on were too tight on my right thigh. I could get them on but they were so tight it was uncomfortable.

I don't suppose the lymphoedema is going to improve all that much [it's largely a holding operation] so I reckon I'm going to have to go and buy some larger trousers ... or start wearing a kilt when I want to go out somewhere a bit special.

Unless you can suggest anything else ...

Ticking away ... Day 666 ~ just saying ...

Is there anything I ought to be wary of ... ?