Another day, and another person I know finds out they have cancer. It’s not surprising, I suppose – the statistics say that fifty per cent of us will now get it at some point during our lives. We’re living longer, we’re sedentary, we do all the wrong things for years and we’re fine and then …
I went to a lovely event the other day with a friend. It might seem strange to describe it as lovely, as the friend and I have both had cancer* and the event was hosted at the Haven, the breast cancer centre in West London, a place most people would pay good money never to …
I’ve just started a mindfulness course. For those who’ve been on Mars with Matt Damon, mindfulness is the new cure-all which is supposed to be more effective than anti-depressants, psychiatry and psychotherapy in controlling anxiety, depression and all that stuff. It’s apparently great for people with cancer, and people getting used to believing that they …
Off to Guy’s Hospital again today but this time, my appointment wasn’t a horrible operation or a nasty or uncomfortable check-up. It was a lovely aromatherapy massage, courtesy of Dimbleby Cancer Care. I was astonished when the St John’s Dermatology department at Guy’s and St Thomas’s, who have handled my malignant melanoma, asked if I …
Here we are, with sunny summer days ahead, and our thoughts naturally turn to ….deodorant. Well, mine have turned that way, because I am very Lymph Node Aware these days and don’t want to fill my poor remaining nodes with potentially toxic gloop. Apparently 98 per cent of women with breast cancer have parabens from …
I’m so glad I live in England. I have a very funny friend who lives abroad – no prizes for guessing where – who tells me the only correct answer to the question ‘how are you?’ is to say, ‘FANTASTIC’. At that volume. He explains, “If you answer, ‘Well, I mustn’t grumble’, what you are …
There’s been brilliant news in the last week or so for people with lung cancer and melanoma too – it seems as though the scientists have managed at last to stop cancer hiding in the body. This means our immune systems can suddenly ‘see’ the cancer cells and attack. I’m not going to attempt a …
I think it’s really important to keep trying to move forward. I want to get a lot of projects sorted out which will move me smoothly into the future, and out of a present where I keep nervously checking bits of my body for sinister developments. My first idea was to get on with an …
Now nobody snigger …. but I spent a day this week at a decluttering seminar. Anyone who knows me will appreciate the irony. I cannot bear piles of stuff around me and much prefer throwing things away to almost any other activity, except eating cake. So why the seminar? Well, I went with a friend …
I saw a friend today for the first time in a few months, and she was very apologetic about not ringing. ‘I knew you were having Troubles, and I didn’t like to intrude,’ she whispered, even though there were only the two of us there. Cancer is still a hushed-voice kind of illness, and rightly …