Back on chemotherapy.

After a pretty gutty week I recovered enough for my Oncologist to put me back onto the chemo program, this was such a relief as I feared he would think me too weak. I walked into his office with my head up, shoulders back and a big grin in my face to convince him I was OK. I was able to explain my previous poor week’s condition on the cough, which the anti-biotic seems to have pretty much cleared up. He compared me to how I was when he gave me the 4 – 8 month prognosis and said I seemed so much better, which was very encouraging. He also seemed encouraged that I can feel a lessening of the pressure in my chest, which may be due to the chemo working, or the cough being helped. He has agreed to delay my CT scan for two weeks, to get a better picture of what is going on after three chemo cycles, instead of the two he originally booked for. I was going to have the scan Friday 7th October, but will now wait for the new date.

I am supposed to be going to Germany to see the Prof. on 28th October, but I think I will delay or postpone it until after the chemotherapy finishes for the mesothelioma. I didn’t realise the embolisation stayed in place for two weeks and I don’t want to lessen the effectiveness of the chemotherapy. I will make a decision once I have the final CT scan results.

I am not feeling too bad with the chemo at the moment; the exhaustion and tiredness tend to kick in once I stop the steroids after three days, then I have four days to get fit to take the second tablet of the third cycle.

The main problem I am having is in breathing, I get puffed doing the slightest thing and have to rest for five minutes if I need to get up the stairs. I have tried steroid inhalers but they take my voice away, then I sound pathetic and the Doctors think I am failing again. A catch 22 situation,

We have lost yet another meso warrior this week, and with another in her final days. It is such a waste of innocent lives all for money and greed by the perpetuators of the asbestos industry. It is still not banned in the USA; Canada and Russia are producing tons of the stuff, and third world and developing countries are buying it up as if there is no tomorrow. When will the madness end?

I missed the Uk Mesothelioma Conference where I would have met up with many of my fellow meso warriors and learned of new developments in the pipeline, which are few and far between. They all had a good time and related the new information to me. It seems we don’t even have a mesothelioma Medical Trial database in this country, and there are only a few trials happening here too. It seems we are lagging the rest of the world in this respect.

On a positive note, although two months into my prognosis, I feel no worse so can only hope the goal post have changed a bit, and I may yet defy the odds, as I hope my feloow sufferes will too.

Thank you all so much for the love and support, it really does help.