Cancer.

[Leo Tomlinson]

Well it’s been 5 weeks or so since I started the treatment , It is around three  weeks since I had the injection in my stomach ,  I think that the  side effects from that are now kicking in , Nothing drastic , just general tired ness . 

I have noticed that my dog walks are taking longer due to me slowing down a little and my bike rides are getting harder , so the info on this seems to be about right , My sleep is  interrupted by the constant urge to urinate so that’s another bloody nuisance .

Apart from that it’s not to bad  no weight gain , no hair loss or breast enlargement up to now .  Although I have had the odd hot flush , not to bad ladies especially with the colder mornings . 

Any way just a  little bit of feed back ,hope it helps any one who  is starting treatment .

 

Get a test if you are concerned  lads and lasses don’t die of embarrassment.

 

 

[Kidorry]

I do not wish to take over your thread but i hope this will give people an insight as to the events of treatment for cancer. It is a long read but a true diary.

 

MY JOURNEY OF HOPE. I started my journey in the early days of December 2017 when the results of the x-ray I had for a suspected chest infection turned out to show I had a lesion which is what the doctor called it. I then asked him if that meant I had got lung cancer? He said it looked as if it was. I then said what can we do about it? The doctor said first we must make sure it is a cancer by having a C.T. & P.E.T.scans and a bronchoscopy . As you can guess it was not very nice to go home and tell my wife about my cancer. I also went round all my family and told them, because I did not want them to hear about it secondhand. I could see the look of shock on my older brothers face, he just could not believe it. From then onwards the only thing I could think about was what it would be like to die. That was all I could think of because my mother and close friends had the same problem and they died within 6 Months. But I was always upbeat because of my 2 sisters who had cancer and they had battled through it. The doctor referred me to the Northern General Hospital for my tests where I was introduced to the cancer consultants. My lungs were tested and I had my C.T. scan and my bronchoscopy (12/01/18) in the space of a week. I had been told that a bronchoscopy was a very nasty thing to have done but I can honestly say I never felt a thing. In fact I was amazed when the doctors said “thats it, all done”. I went back for the results on January 2nd when the cancer was confirmed. I was then asked to have a P.E.T. scan to determine exactly what type of cancer it was and where. When I went back to the cancer consultants for these results they told me it was a very aggressive cancer but, they thought they had a more aggressive treatment for it. I clung onto those words all through my treatment and from then on I began to feel as though I may beat this. From the N.G.H. I was then referred to Weston Park cancer hospital where I was met by the consultant who would decide my treatment. It was decided I would have 6 sessions of Chemotherapy and 30 sessions of radiotherapy. I started my chemotherapy on January 24th 2018. The treatment is started by inserting a needle into the back of your hand and then a drip is put into it. The first drip is sterilised water followed by one of the drugs(Cisplatin). After that drug you have some more sterilised water and then the other drug (Etopside)is inserted followed by some more sterilised water. Simple and quick, not on your nelly. The whole process takes about 10 hours, and lots of visits to the toilet because you are encouraged to drink water to keep your kidneys active. It is funny really because you are O.K. until the first one decides to go to the toilet and then it is a steady stream(pardon the pun) of patients after that.You are in a room with 7 or 8 other patients where the atmosphere is always pleasant.During the treatment you have volunteers coming round with drinks and biscuits and taking orders for your dinner and evening meal, if you want one. The nurses and the volunteers are absolutely brilliant, nothing is too much trouble for them and they all have a smile for you. After your treatment you are given a load of medication to take home with you to carry on your treatment at home. My radiotherapy began on the 21st of February. For this I had to stay in hospital because I was having 2 sessions a day. Before you start your radiotherapy, the nurses tattoo three dots on your body,one in the middle of my chest and one either side of my ribs, for future reference. For your radiootherapy you just lay on the machine and staff put you in position with your tattoos and you just lay there while the machine does its work, for only about 2 minutes. The chemotherapy treatment is not too bad but the after effects tend to be a little daunting. The day after your chemotherapy treatment finishes, at exactly the same time as it ended the day before, you have to take the chemotherapy tablets, which are 7 capsules about an inch long and ¼ of an inch round. O.K. , but the only snag is, you cannot touch them with your fingers. Swallowing them is bad enough but trying to handle them without touching them can create a laugh. Another part of the treatment is, you have to take steroids which put me a bit of weight on and the last but not least is you have to inject yourself in your stomach for 5 days. This is the treatment after every session of chemotherapy. For about a week to 10 days after the chemotherapy you feel lousy with no appetite and your taste buds do not seem to function. You are very tired and fall asleep anywhere, anytime. And the more sessions you have the worse it gets so by the time you are on your 6th session you feel really lousy. Added to this when I had my radiotherapy, because of where my cancer was, the treatment burned my throat and I lost the ability to swallow. Even drinking water was very very painful. I had to eat, so I had to find a way how to swallow and believe me forcing yourself to swallow is very difficult and painful. One of the worst side effects I had was constipation. It was one of the most painful couple of days I can ever remember, pure agony. When I was in hospital for my radiotherapy I also had to have my chemotherapy as well. This caused a bit of a problem because you cannot have the chemotherapy straight after the radiotherapy which meant that I had to wait a few hours after my last radiotherapy treatment of the day which was usually around 5pm. This meant that my chemotherapy finished in the middle of the night which also meant that the next night I was woken up in the middle of the night to take all my medication. For the radiotherapy I stayed in hospital all week, but the staff let me go for a walk in Weston park every afternoon, and I went home at the weekend which gave me a break but you still feel rough. I ended my radiotherapy in March 2018 but my Chemotherapy continued until May. I still have problems swallowing and I lost all my hair but that has grown back. If my swallowing is the only problem I have after all this, I will be delighted. After all my hospital treatment was finished, I had another C.T. scan to see the results of the treatments, and, my cancer had shrunk considerably, which delighted everyone. I now have to go for an X-Ray every 3 month just to check on things. But they told me not to be complacent and if you feel unwell in any way get in touch with them, and up to now all has been O.K. If after 2 years of X-rays and all is O.K. it is a good sign that it may not become active again and, after 5 years of X-rays and it is still inactive, it has gone. The one thing I must say is, that throughout all this my G.P. and all his staff, the cancer consultants and nurses and all their staff, the pharmacist and their staff, my neighbour have treated me with great respect and kindness for which I am deeply grateful. But the biggest thank you must go to my wife who had to put up with my mood changes and the difficulties I had over not being able to eat. I realise now what a nightmare it must have been for her, but she never let it show, thank you. My journey continues.

[crookesey]

When I’m lying in bed thinking nice thoughts of folk and days past I suddenly remember how many are no longer with us, the big C accounts for most of them. You are fighting for all of us, I hope that I will have your guts if and when my time comes, I’ve lived a lifestyle that doesn’t deserve longevity, however I quite like life, as I am sure you do, I wish you much more of it.

[Leo Tomlinson]

Bloody eco Kidorry makes my  little problem look like a walk in the Park that does .

Thanks for posting you are not taking over owt ,your post is exactly why I started this blog. , It is so as people can refer to it and compare , and hopefully take some comfort that  they are not alone with the big C , cheers 

[cuttsie]

OK I will come clean , I am (was)  posting as Leo Tomlinson  when i am in fact Cuttsy . this came about because I could not sign into Sheffield forum due to a admin problem , Leo has now gone he will no longer post on here , Some one on another thread has stated that I am self indulgent by  starting this Cancer blog , Let me once again  say ( as I did in post  no one )state that that is not the case, I am doing it because I think it is a subject that  should be talked about , People including me can swop notes and  ask questions .

So here goes the latest from my end .

 

To day I received a very long phone call from the Western Park team , They asked me how I am feeling after the injection . I told them that sleep was the main side effect up to date or lack of it as seem to be getting just a couple of hours a night ,   add to this the hot flushes  and i mean hot its as though your body is on fire when they kick in     ,still winter is on its way so it may even come in handy   this and the urinating  at frequent intervals also at night time .

 

The brilliant nurse on the phone then outlined what is going happen in the coming weeks , she says a further injection will be on its way in around a months time , this will be followed by a visit to the team at Western Park when i will be scanned again in that giant tumble dryer  deep Xray machine , this will point out where the Radiotherapy will be targeted when that starts around January time , I will need just four weeks of this she says and will probably have a few side effects inc extreme tiredness .

I asked if it was possible to just cut the bloody (big LOL) prostrate out and after some discussion she said she would discuss this with the surgical team to see what their thoughts are on that and will get back to me , she says that there is some times problems that can arise with the removal surgery inc toilet and leakage from the nether regions .

 

So thats it ,Sorry for any confusion in the thread name it was a  situation brought on by computer problems and I was not banned just  got lost on the system so hope i am forgiven .

[Kidorry]

I am glad you cleared that up and I am in full agreement with you about people talking about cancer. It seems to be a taboo word for some people. Anyhow I hope everything goes well with your treatment and put your trust in the doctors. Goodluck.

[Chekhov]

On 16/08/2022 at 19:07, Leo Tomlinson said:

To night I start treatment for prostrate cancer , I have decided to record my experiences over the coming months , I am doing this because it may help other who are in similar circumstance a.   I also  do not want any sympathy or hand wringing  due to my illness , This started over  12 months ago when I visited the Dr's in  the North Sheffield area where I live, they took some convincing  that I should be tested as they said I had been  tested just 12 months before but i insisted  and a problem was  diagnosed  .

Eventually I ended up at the Hallamshire Hospital and was  put on giant scanning machine , the results of that scan confirmed what I had already suspected this being prostate cancer . I was informed that the cancer is of  an  aggressive type although it may be years before it spread and caused me  serious problems , I was told to think about treatment or due to my age to decide to leave things as they were . 

 

I asked around , talked to many people ,       without fail they all said "go for it " fight the bloody thing and keep positive .

So as started tonight (just now I have taken the first drug (Bicalutamide 50 mg)  this is first of 28 tablets of which the info sheet informs me of all sorts of nasty little side effects that may or may not happen during the coming months .  Hair loss, blood in urine , constipation , ****es ,  dizzyness, tiredness , and so on being just a few .

 

When the drug course finishes I believe that the next step is radiotherapy at Western Park  ,this will apparently last  for  a few weeks  and include 5 days a week visits .

 

Any  way the whole point of this blog is to record my  treatment  and hope to compare with other as the Big C seems to be  not talked about  at any length on forums  etc .   so  , feel free to join in ,ask Questions give advice and most important if you think there is a  problem ,insist on seeing a Doctor and do not take no for a answer .

Day  one up and running .

Sorry to hear about your C Leo.

What have they said about surgery, if anything ?

I seem to remember reading somewhere it is an underused method of attack, and which, doesn't have as many side effects as hormone treatment and stuff.

[cuttsie]

28 minutes ago, Kidorry said:

I am glad you cleared that up and I am in full agreement with you about people talking about cancer. It seems to be a taboo word for some people. Anyhow I hope everything goes well with your treatment and put your trust in the doctors. Goodluck.

Cheers for that , I hope other will post their thoughts and any concerns they may have ,. Get tested lads and lasses 

[cuttsie]

20 minutes ago, Chekhov said:

Sorry to hear about your C Leo.

What have they said about surgery, if anything ?

I seem to remember reading somewhere it is an underused method of attack, and which, doesn't have as many side effects as hormone treatment and stuff.

A pal of mine had the little sod removed , he says he had around a months discomfort then more or less back to normal .  The nurse told me that removal can cause  leakage  down below , or diorea ( cant spell direa ) so i mean the ****es LOL ..

Edited October 12, 2022 by cuttsie

[Chekhov]

2 minutes ago, cuttsie said:

A pal of mine had the little sod removed , he says he had around a months discomfort then more or less back to normal .  The nurse told me that removal can cause  leakage  down below , or diorea ( cant spell direa ) so i mean the ****es LOL ..

The article I read about prostrate surgery warned about that, but said the surgeons were getting more accurate due to improvements in technique.