PICC Chick

Medical update

I've continued to recover well over the past couple of weeks, gradually sleeping less during the day and rebuilding my energy levels. The insomnia that I had after the first surgery has returned due to going back onto steroids, although I've already started to taper those so hopefully I'll be back to normal sleeping in a week or so. I'm three weeks (out of six) into the antibiotics which have done a great job of healing up the scar infection and now I have a longer picc line, I can self-administer the treatment.

Nurse Anna was almost redundant for a little while there, so I decided to shake things up a bit by weed-whipping (strimming) part of our garden, causing a bleed from the picc line coming out of my arm - oops! The on-call nurse came out and re-dressed it but unfortunately she kinked the line and so I couldn't push the antibiotics through, which I normally do just before bed. So, we got her back on the phone (much less 'on call' at midnight, it seems!) and had her talk Anna through how to re-dress the line (not as simple as it sounds). It all worked though and I'm looking into getting this t-shirt for Anna...

Other news

Some of you will have noticed that since my diagnosis I have been wearing a Livestrong wristband. I learned that today is the seventh anniversary of the launch of the wristband (by seven-times tour-de-France winner, Lance Armstrong) and apparently over 80 million have been sold in support of this great organisation.

Why do I wear one? Firstly to show support for and solidarity with other cancer patients, but it also acts as a daily reminder to stay strong and live each moment with energy and purpose.

I think the manifesto they created is incredibly powerful:

The Livestrong Manifesto:

We believe in life.
Your life.
We believe in living every minute of it with every ounce of your being.
And that you must not let cancer take control of it.
We believe in energy: channeled and fierce.
We believe in focus: getting smart and living strong.
Unity is strength. Knowledge is power. Attitude is everything.
This is LIVESTRONG.

I mentioned last time that the bike decision was almost made and here is my new ride...

I went for a first ride yesterday and, although it was less than an hour, I was exceptionally happy being back on two wheels, enjoying the sunshine and the lakeside views. Bliss!

Finally, a book recommendation (for those of you that appreciate them). Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese. An outstanding novel, set mostly in Ethiopia and chronicling the lives of twin brothers born to an Indian nun and an English surgeon. I won't go into any more details, but this book has gone straight into my top 5 books of all time. Quite unforgettable.

Hasta la proxima!

Post-surgery (and a new bike!)

I think most of you have had updates on my most recent surgery.

I really did try to 'live-blog' but it just went something like this...

11:05 skull removed
11:14 tumour resection
11:30 latte
12:30 lunch
13:00 hair styling conference
13:30 side-parting discussion
14:00 more side-parting discussion
15:34 side-parting direction decided
15:35 close-up

There was one slightly interesting technique used by the surgeon this time to ensure that he was operating within a safe margin of tolerance around the second lesion. Apparently sensors were attached to parts of my brain to ensure that he could see when my right hand (for example) was being stimulated. Fascinating stuff and a big relief to come into the ICU with no after-effects of the surgery.

Yesterday we had some preliminary results back from pathology on the secondary tumour, suggesting that it was either a grade II or III glioma. The surgeon is now in contact with a number of other neuro-surgeons and oncologists and they are working out an action plan for further treatment. The main issue will probably be that I'll need further radiation therapy as well as completing the original course of chemo.

Fortunately, the surgeon was also able to reopen the original scar and perform an antibiotic flush to ensure that that there was definitely no infection to that site. Further tests have shown that the infection just didn't properly clear up as we had hoped and I've now started another six-week course of picc-line antibiotics to get that dealt with. All under the wonderful care of Nurse Anna.

Bike news - I'm pretty much down to a choice of two bikes for my 40th birthday present from Anna (it might just arrive a little early!). Now I just need some decent weather and a training plan.
Until next time - big hugs.