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http://martinieffect.wordpress.com/

In with the new..

What better day to wrap this blog up than New Year's Day.

Although there are still bits and bobs to do (small op to replace saline tissue expander, and a course of hormone tablets), treatment is now largely finished. I go back to the hospital mid-May for my first annual follow-up. I'm fully hoping they will tell me I'm cancer free, so let's plump for Saturday 21 May for the all clear party - pencil it into your new 2011 diaries! It can double up as a second wedding anniversary party too.

Thank you for following my progress. Your support has helped me stay connected with the world at a time when I could have felt isolated, and your comments have encouraged me greatly on this journey. Through this blog, I've been able to keep in touch with those I know, reconnect with people from the past, and reach out to some new people too.

One reader even told me she'd given extracts to her English GCSE students to study! 

The stats tell me there have been visitors from the UK, US, Hong Kong, Japan, Canada, Australia, Germany, Spain, Ireland and New Zealand - with an average of 555 page views a week.

One thing this has taught me is that I want to do more writing, so I now resolve to finish a novel (two thirds written) and actively pursue some feature and short story ideas. I may even start another blog on a different subject.

I welcome feedback from a reader's point of view. You can either comment on the blog itself or email me on clare.stevens2011@gmail.com

Here's to a happy and healthy 2011!



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Out with the old

2010 - a year of leaking oil and leaking secrets, cruel cuts, and deep relief for 33 trapped miners.

A year in which an Icelandic volcano cast a three week shadow over European air travel; it snowed, and snowed again; and the students were revolting.

A year when more than 12 million people were diagnosed with cancer. 

In which two friends have died of the disease, four more were diagnosed and five received the all clear.

I'd like to raise a glass to those who've crossed my path who have done battle with the disease.  So here's to the cancer cast of 2010:  Jane I, Jane T, Sue, Margaret, Suzanne, Lisa, Maria, Hilary, Jenny, Cindy, Maureen, Maria, Beverley, Stuart, Lynette, Vicki-Jean, Michael, Joanne, Annette, Liz, and the countless others I've met whose names I never knew.

JP doesn't like New Year. He wants to drive a pin through the world to stop it spinning, or turn it round the other way. I have always believed in it. To me it spells hope and promise, because 'tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms further...And one fine morning...'

When you've had cancer, you travel hopefully...

Radio silence

The last radiotherapy session today was oddly anticimatic. This cancer journey, which started out with a big bang and high drama, and is now kind of fizzling out.

Now treatment is over I am left to assess the damage - a mutilated boob that still looks like a boob, at least from the outside; an annoyingly aching back; general tiredness - but no worse than I normally experience at this time of year; and a very short haircut.

But I mustn't grumble, because whatever the hangovers of the treatment, it's better than the alternative! And I am truly glad to be here.

Today I've had my head shaved - which may sound barmy given that there's hardly any hair there anyway - but I'm told it helps it to grow back thicker. It's coming back dark!!

I shall probably wind this blog up in the new year - it will then be a complete record of treatment from start to finish.

These are strange, grey, in-betweeny days. Usually I go back to work in between Christmas and New Year, it's a good time for tying up loose ends, when it's quiet. We will probably see out the year as we saw it in, watching a band at our local pub. But this year no Jane. It seems impossible that someone so vital can be no longer here. It hasn't sunk in yet, like she's just away, or something. Like I will be seeing her next week, next month, next year....

Jane I'Anson R.I.P

To Jane, who died this morning.

Goodbye beautiful friend. The world will be a much duller place without you....

 

Doctor's orders

Thursday will be the last radiation session, marking the end of cancer-zapping procedures, but not the end of treatment. After that we're into prevention. Because mine was an oestrogen-fed cancer, to stop it returning I must take hormone tablets for up to five years. Some people don't like this medication because it brings on an early menopause. At my age I'm not too bothered as that's where I'm heading anyway.

All these months of treatment have left me knackered, so I'm not going back into work till February - although still working a few hours from home. I will use the time to build my strength up. My back, where they took the muscle out, is weakened and I get intermittent backache. The physio says I should swim in a 'posh pool' (where the water is warmer). So today we've been out looking at private gyms.

I used to frequent an old municipal pool in town, until last April when Nottingham City Council in their wisdom closed it. It had a small but loyal clientele. Often there would be only a handful of people in the water. That's why I liked it - and probably why they closed it. In this age of austerity I doubt whether the promised all-singing, all-dancing replacement will ever materialise.

The physio also says I must not sit for more than half an hour, but should get up and walk around. What a perfect excuse for getting out of meetings!

Merry Christmas everybody

Good will has followed me around all year but now it's the official season for it.

Even Colonel Sensitivity was nice to me earlier.

Here's a couple of  Chrimbo creatures spotted recently.

Have a good 'un..