Anger, Euphemisms And A Very Busy Week

There is a Facebook page which claims that cancer can be cured through nutrition and exercise. Their "mission statement" is as follows:" I've seen cancer hurt too many people around me. The disease is preventable, beatable and curable. Passionate about nutrition and well being". Well clearly this person knows something all the oncologists don't. The Facebook page is littered with "fridge magnet" maxims. My particular favourite is:
1. Stop eating refined sugars.
2. Eat alkaline foods only
3. Drink plenty of clean water
4. Reduce stress
5. Exercise
6. Eat as much fresh organic fruit and vegetables that you can
7. Avoid processed foods
8. Detoxify your body
9. Boost your immune system
10. Follow an anti-inflammatory diet.

This basically boils down to, eat healthily and do some exercise. If only it were that easy. On a point by point basis, cutting down on refined sugars is clearly a sensible thing to do, however there are times when the only thing that I want to eat is a bowl of Sugar Puffs as that really is the only thing that appeals. Eating an alkaline diet is a waste of time as the human body rebalances the acidity/alkalinity. Personally I drink nothing but clean water. I would love to reduce my stress, but the biggest source of my stress is my cancer! Ah exercise! There are times when getting out of bed is all the exercise I can manage. I would love to eat lots of healthy fruit and veg but again there are times when you have to eat what you fancy which might not necessarily be organic fruit and veg. Avoiding processed foods, again a sensible thing to do but not always possible. Detoxifying is what your liver and kidneys do, so again something of a waste of effort. Boosting of the immune system easier said than done, ditto the anti-inflammatory diet. To say I was angry about this is something of an understatement and I realise that many people will clutch at any straw they can.

As you can probably imagine death and the thought of it does tend to preoccupy my waking thoughts. Many people will have walked out of their front doors this morning never to return. C'est la vie. The fact that my life is limited is annoying because I can never forget that I will almost certainly die before you. This is not as annoying as the euphemisms for death. When I die, which I surely will, I will  have died, I will not have "passed". I always feel the urge to ask what have they passed, their driving test, Spanish "O" level. I will not have gained my wings, I certainly will not have joined the angels. Strangely I have no issue with kicked the bucket, popped my clogs or shuffled off this mortal coil.

Finally, this past week has been somewhat packed. I had my usual blood test on Wednesday, arrived on Thursday for treatment to be told that there was a cock-up on the appointment front and I should be in on Friday. Good job both my husband and I have such understanding bosses. We return the following day where they spend the best part of 2 hours trying to get my portacath to work. Stuff would go in but no blood would come out. Eventually they decide that even though there is no pull back they will use it anyway. The treatment takes about 20 minutes, so I spent more time trying to get the port to work than having treatment. I have to have yet another blood transfusion as my iron levels had fallen through the floor. The nurse finds a vein in my arm to take samples for cross-matching. Leaving a lovely bruise.

On Saturday morning I go to the ambulatory unit for my transfusion. They too eventually find a vein and the very boring procedure begins. I have now managed to get it down to 2½ hours rather than 3. My previous blood transfusion had been a Lazarus effect on me, this time the effect has been less dramatic but just as effective. I think that my transfusions last about 6 weeks so I shouldn't need another one until the end of March. I'll keep you posted.

Other than that my side effects from the drugs I am having have been minimal and cope-able, which is nice.

At some point prior to this I had agreed to having a sofa-bed delivered on Saturday. They ring about a hour before delivery but unfortunately cannot get it up the stairs due to a newel post. So it is currently sitting on its end in the hall awaiting an upholsterer to dismantle it and reassemble it later.