My mesothelioma is on the move again.

My mesothelioma is again on the move. A lump has appeared on my back below the operation scar and my GP said it is likely to be mesothelioma. .

I rang my oncologist straight away and got an appointment for the next day, which impressed me. He confirmed my GP's diagnosis and is sending me for radiotherapy, then a CT scan with the view to putting me on Vinoralbine chemotherapy in six weeks time.

This was quite a blow to me as I was only told at the end of February that my mesothelioma was stable. At least this chemotherapy is one that I can tolerate with impaired kidneys, but the side effects are likely to be as bad as my first chemotherapy. I just hope the symptoms are controllable; my hair will thin, I will have nausea and lethargy.

At least I am able to have some treatment. Vinoralbine is known to help in 15 - 19% of mesothelioma patients, so I just hope I am in that category.

I WILL keep fighting all the time there is quality of life and hope.

My daughter Emily was brilliant in her role as Miss Adelaide in Guys and Dolls and we are so proud of her. It is very difficult for young actresses to get started in the acting profession especially if they don't know anyone with influence.

Some good news.

Good news, my GFR has gone up to 21 from 11, five weeks ago, and the creatinine level has gone down to 203 from 335. This is very good news for me as it means my kidneys really want to work. It is all helped by the fact that I am not being as sick as I was, so am able to keep more fluids down. This also opens the possibility of me being able to participate in future drug trials which are really my only hope of beating this cancer.

My daughter in law Amy discovered someone had dumped a load of asbestos in her works car park. She was absolutely furious. The person responsible turned out to be their gardener, who was unaware that they had put in CCTV. When confronted he denied doing it, but had to confess on being shown the CCTV. It is going to cost £400.00 to get it removed safely.


I hope they go to the police. I have also messaged her to see if she will let me call the local TV and newspapers to report on it, to make people aware of the dangers of asbestos The fool must have had it in his car, where there will still be fibres floating around. These people know it is illegal, so why don’t they think about the reason why it is.

Emily, my daughter, is in the play 'Guys and Dolls', on in Dartford and had her opening night last night, which went very well and had a very good and responsive audience. We are looking forward to seeing her in it on Saturday night.




My photo is of my young three
year old grandson Joseph
dressed up for his playschool party.

What a roller coaster fortnight.

What a roller coaster this last two weeks have been. I had terrible centre chest pains and was taken into hospital by ambulance. They thought it may have been a heart attack. Although I was showing markers in my blood for this the ECG was not so definite. I was in hospital for five days while they tried to stop the pain and control the sickness that came with it. They decided it might be the mesothelioma, or furred up arteries and sent me home with blood pressure pills, beta blockers and statins for cholesterol.

I still felt really bad over the weekend and had a repeat of the chest pain again on the Monday. I was advised to go back into hospital and was there for four more days. They are not really sure what it was all about and seem to have come down to blaming the mesothelioma.

At least the chest pain has now stopped.

With the chest pain was a serious pain down my jaw and neck, this seems to flummox them and they don’t know what it is. I get this pain on getting up from a laying position and I am to see my GP about it later today.

I was told in December and again on 25th February that my mesothelioma was stable so I don’t know what to think, it is worrying.

I do feel a bit better but my chest is quite uncomfortable, so maybe the Doc’s are right.

I tried a new anti-sickness drug but it made me swell up and I felt as if I had a straight jacket on that was suppressing my breathing. These symptoms went in a couple of days of stopping these tablets. I did ask the hospital doctors if this reaction was from the anti sickness, but they said no. I now know otherwise.

I am just so sensitive to medicines and seem to get many side effects from them. Even the morphine they initially gave for pain made me hallucinate.

I am not sure what to do, I don’t see the oncology people for about six weeks and if the mesothelioma is indeed rearing up again I need to do something, or have something done. Unfortunately my kidney failure means chemo is out of the question until they improve, which they are trying to do.

At least my sickness is under control at the moment, after going back on my original tablets that had stopped working but are now working again.

I would like to say a big thank you to the wonderful nurses on the CCU and Culpepper wards who were very sympathetic and caring; they made a worrying hospital stay bearable. In fact all the staff at the Maidstone hospital couldn’t have been kinder, I was most impressed.