So….. it’s been a while!! So much has happened! I have not had any treatment since my last blog back in April. Lots of reasons for this. At first I had low immunity levels (white cells ect), then my haemoglobin (red cells) were low, then I got an awful sinus infection! So delay delay delay! Now my issues are around weight loss and cachexia. Cachexia (pronounced ‘cakeksia’) is also called wasting syndrome or anorexia cachexia syndrome. It is a complex problem that is more than a loss of appetite. It involves changes in the way your body uses proteins, carbohydrates, and fat. You may also burn calories faster than usual. People with cachexia lose muscle and often fat as well. So not only have a wasted away but my muscles have gone with it! Now because of this I am not in a physical state to be able to have treatment at the moment. This means everyone around me is trying to force feed me Big Macs and Cake! Not complaining obvs!
Anyway thats the bloody cancer rundown but what's been going on in life? Well!! Me and Mark have had lots of days and nights away with friends and just the two of us, which has been lovely. One day I had a letter through the post and my face was on the envelope!! scary stuff, made even worse when I opened it and my face was all over the inside too! it was the promotional material for the new campaign for Asthma + Lung UK which I agreed to help with, they contribute so much to research around lung conditions so I was happy to help, even if cringing that my face had been posted to thousands of people! In other news, I had another journal article published in the BJN (British Journal of Nursing) too on respiratory management in advanced practice (Proud moment), legacy pending.
Me and my council estate friends went glamping in the lake district, we even managed a little trip to the zoo, and they didn't keep any of us in which was bonus! I love those girls and it was exactly what I needed. Then it was all about the children! first Maddy left school, then Liv left college (she celebrated with a holiday to Turkey with her boyfriend Lewis!), a month of exams preceded this and you couldn't move around our house without feeling like you weren't going to be swamped by revision notes, buried by folders or stuck to the walls with post it notes!!! Then it was time for prom and Maddy looked like an angel, we were all so proud of her. Then we had a family holiday to Centerparcs, (all 19 of us!) I think this was when it became apparent as a family that I had significantly shrunk and lost alot of my physical reserve, to the point of having to lift my legs up to climb stairs and needed help to get the steering lock off my car! so hence operation 'fatten Helen up' started. It's a work in progress and one I'm not sure I'll win but I'm gunna give it a bloody good go! So if you see me, feed me cake! That's an order :-)
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