The Battle Lines Have Been Drawn

So grab your axe, your sword, your superhero powers and most importantly your energy to get ready because on the morning of Tuesday 8^thJanuary 2019 the war will commence. 

My first treatment is chemotherapy (TMZ) which I start taking tomorrow (8^thJan) at home through tablets that come in a prescription box that honestly look like I just have an ear infection. But don’t be fooled Klootzak Vader [aka my Glioblastoma brain cancer] (wha ha ha ha) because this shit is real. 

During this tablet form of chemo my quality of life will hopefully be almost normal as I am young, fit and healthy so they’re not expecting me to have many side effects apart from a ‘little tiredness’ here and there. And if I do get nausea and vomiting they can potentially alter the dose so it goes away again. How crazy positive is that?!

Our 2^ndline of defence is radiotherapy which I firstly have to have a head mask made for (yep I’m thinking let’s try and style it out as a Mexican wrestler mask too) and then in roughly just over two weeks I’ll have to go to hospital everyday Monday to Friday for the radiotherapy treatment itself which will last 6 weeks alongside taking the above continuous chemotherapy. Again, they’re hoping for the same reasons that I won’t suffer too much from side effects although it’s much harder to predict and more common to experience headaches, nausea and vomiting.

I then have, wait for it, a 4 week break from all treatment – oh yeah baby! Get ready to see me dancing (sober) on tables, snoozing on beaches, soaking up the sea and generally living my life like every single person on the planet should be able to do.

Following that I will back on the chemotherapy tablets but this time in cycles where I have 5 days on them and then 23 days off for 14 months in total. Yes I know the total length of time sounds insane but yet again at the same time what amazing news is that regarding the length of my breaks? Plus I can travel whilst on them as long as I’m near a hospital for weekly blood tests. Holy moly!  

And yes it might not end up being as easy as they’re making out but it’s a million miles away from what you would normally think of with ‘chemo’. I find it so fascinating and incredible and this is just the standard level of care. On top of that, as mentioned before, there are many other things we’re exploring so when I say I honestly couldn’t love past and present scientists, doctors and other people out there making these standard and other kinds of things possible, any more, I mean it from every fibre of my body. You are literally giving people like me their normal lives back during the times they need it the absolute most.

Following a total of 12 chemo cycles (so that’s the 14 months) I will then be scanned after 3 months to see how it’s gone although there will be other scans along the way. So in effect in 18 months we’ll know whether it’s been ‘successful’ which basically means if Klootzak Vader is on the floor, unconscious and clutching for it’s life. 

Following all of that, hopefully those superhero doctors and scientists out there that I mentioned might have even better weapons, powers and darn right strength to finish it off once and for all. So as far as I’m concerned for now at least, Mothering Fucking (MF) Cancer for me and everyone else out there suffering can do one.