Back to normality

I am now officially in week 3 of radiotherapy and week 5 of chemotherapy. Obviously I know it doesn’t mean anything medically but the fact I’ve so far had no side effects at all is pretty bloody incredible.

It’s been so good in fact that I’ve been living a totally normal life apart from the ridiculous number of medical appointments, medicines and logistics I have to navigate through. 

To give an example of ‘normal life’ since I’ve started treatment I have been out exercising, taking my daughter to gymnastic classes, going for dinners, getting up at the crack of dawn to do East of Eden Yoga under the blue whale at the National History Museum, going to 2 gigs of very dear old friends one of which was at Wembley Arena where I was persuaded to get dressed up as a wombat and dance on stage in front of thousands of screaming fans (see https://www.nme.com/reviews/live/wombats-wembley-sse-arena-live-review?fbclid=IwAR3bqwezAKJWniL-QOix3OIjBtLnlvmCGPbmUWeFfJuYYhEUTWHILHrldAo#mb3WiqKsJe1XU6Ua.01) for more details (!)) and attend numerous birthday meals. So yeah normal everyday life is back and in some ways even better…

I’ve genuinely feel that my radiotherapy sessions have been the best thing since this all happened for numerous reasons. 

The first of which is a wonderful rapport with the nurses and radiographer I now have but also how I worked out very quickly that the best way to handle these treatments is to make them actually enjoyable and even fun. 

I’ve done this by taking in a speaker into my treatment to play either meditation music I can meditate to or banging out the warrior empowerment playlist my amazing friends put together and other bands who mean a lot to me which apparently can be heard down the ward and even in the waiting room (the nurses think is hilarious and further adds to how much we all laugh, dance and even sing together)!

Most importantly though is that I have taken a different friend or family with me almost every time which means I get to giggle a lot, show them how fascinating it all is, wrap them in the blanket of love and then catch up after. I honestly think it’s been 15 years (since leaving uni) that I’ve managed to see the people I love and make me laugh the most every single day. That in itself is unbelievable for anyone’s soul and state of mind. 

It’s meant that I literally bound in and bound out of my sessions with insane energy and positivity couched in oodles of love and support from all these gorgeous people. It’s eliminated any anxiety from the effects of this treatment and genuinely left me in awe of everyone surrounding me. 

They are all my tribe and I am so so lucky in so many ways.