I don’t often write about what I have been doing, more about what I am thinking. But June into July has been quite a month.
I joined the ECCO Methods in Cancer Clinical Research Workshop in June. This is held at Zeist in the Netherlands, not far from Utrecht. It used to be held at Flims in Switzerland, an extraordinary venue, but increasingly inaccessible and costly in these days of austerity. I enjoyed six year at Flims from 2007 to 2012, as the only patient on a faculty of 40 supporting 80 Fellows attending the course. The pattern is similar at Zeist. I had the real pleasure of working with 40 of the young oncologists developing studies. It was demanding and called on all my knowledge of cancer and of being a patient, whether that was developed from personal experience or from those who have shared their experiences with me over the years.
Coming home called for a rest. However my blood pressure medication needed adjusting and I was becoming increasingly unhappy with the actual medication itself. It seemed to be causing hazy periods, lack of concentration and increased fatigue. However I was also getting increasingly chesty, with a tightness on my breathing. Then on Wednesday I fell. I had my amputation over ten years ago and have never fallen since. Until now. How it happened showed how woolly my thinking had become. I failed to complete the fitting of my prothesis properly and walked out of the artificial leg. Gravity took over. I landed on the stump, the pain was excruciating. No breaks, just some severe bruising and a few scratches. Spent the rest of the day recovering and started moving around again the following day but I was getting more and more breathless.
By Friday morning I was an emergency admission to hospital in Shrewsbury. After various tests and discussions it was decided I had nothing more complicated than a lung infection and after 60 hours on oxygen, some strong antibiotics and a valuable review of my cardiac functioning I was released home on Tuesday. See earlier blog.
Thursday was my cancer follow-up. Different hospital, the Robert Jones & Agnes Hunt Hospital in Oswestry, and because it is a specialist orthopaedic hospital which does not handle medical cases the contrasts could not be greater. In addition the new cancer unit which was only opened last year is a pleasure to visit. I know the team well, they have treated me too often, and they are doing some really good pioneering work on, for example, nurse-led triage. All OK and I was grateful for a careful review of all the imaging of my lungs from recent days. It is now five years since my latest treatment but with my chequered history of recurrences I am continuing in follow-up.
Two moments of special pleasure. The hospital has started a bio-bank, so I was able to sign up and offer more tissue for research. Then they told me they had acquired a new consultant surgeon and introduced me to her. The surgical team now has more female surgeons than male, a situation I could see coming but did not expect so quickly. It has been one of my true pleasures in 16 years of patient advocacy to see the shift in oncology away from male dominance. It is also evident that women are bringing new ideas into research and it can only work to the benefit of patients.
Back home, no more appointments. Still not right but getting better every day.