Thanks for the nudge Paul.
Glad to report all is nice and boring here so after the turmoil of the last 6 months I can confirm boring is excellent!
In myself I feel well, pretty fit and strong once again. This is such a relief going from the extremities endured during the first part of the year. I would say I am roughly back at 90% ability of where I was pre lymphoma so making good headway and full expect to regain the last 10% before Christmas.
My stomach is definitely more sensitive than it used to be so this will take getting used to. After chatting with my consultant this is no doubt due to the scarring due to the chemo but things ought to settle down in time. The best way I can explain it is after hurting yourself or breaking a limb you become ‘aware’ you broke that leg or whatever so it’s the same for me with my stomach.
Anyway, Kirstin and I got married almost 3 weeks ago which was a fabulous day. All our family and close friends made the celebration and even the Aberdeen weather played ball. It was a relaxed and friendly affair and everyone seemed to have fun. With the kind donations from family and friends and my employer fund matching I’m hoping to have raised around 10k for the friends of anchor charity which is great.
We had our brief honeymoon camping on Anglesey for a few days which was fun. The weather held mostly ok even long enough for me to get sunburnt (chemo plays havoc with your skin) but that’s a lesson learnt. After spending a week back in Wales we traveled back up to Aberdeen for Cerys to start school. She’s been there on half days for 2 weeks now so I’m enjoying being able to walk her there in the mornings and collect her at lunchtime. Kirstin has also returned to work so she is slowly settling back to normality. I too return to work next Monday so am looking forward and dreading that in equal measures. I’m thankful however that my employer has left me be and will offer whatever support I require on my return.
I/we did have a minor wobble last week where I thought my stomach had began to grow again (atypical for Burkitt’s) so I contacted the haematology department in ARI and had blood tests and a consultation that day and followed with a CAT scan the following day. Everything appears to be ok so this will be the new ‘normal’ for a while I guess. I first became paranoid because I noticed Kirstin looking at my stomach which then in turn made me paranoid which affected my eating etc.. in actual fact I think the main reason was now we are married I don’t bother holding it in so much!
It all still feels a little weird and since my hair has all returned the only external marks are from the PICC lines. The neuropathy in my feet has improved greatly and only the tips of my toes feel fuzzy. All in all its like it happened to someone else or was a TV program I watched rather than something far more serious that we’ve come through which is a huge relief.
This whole saga has definitely changed my perspective on life and work life balance but it scarily easy to fall back into bad habits which I’m trying to avoid.
Anyway, that’s it from me and hope you are all well.
Cheers.
John
