Important news of Gill
Dear friends of Gill This may be a hard message to read. Please make sure you’re in a good place before reading further: at home, with friends around. Many of you will not know me. My name is Terry and I am Gill’s brother. As you’ll be aware from many of her posts, Gill was diagnosed with late stage bowel cancer in the summer of 2016. Initially, the chemotherapy she was...
Read MoreThe New Normal
It takes a while to adjust to the fact that you’re a cancer patient. A scary while within which you can’t quite believe what is happening to you. But cancer is never a short-term thing like having a cold or a broken leg and I’ve found that you have to adjust, and all of a sudden being a cancer patient seems like the new normal. Today I have a meeting with my oncologist – but that...
Read MoreChemo!
One thing a lot of people ask me at the moment is what it’s like to go through chemo. From what I’ve learned talking to other cancer patients it differs for everyone, but here’s a lowdown for those who are interested on my typical two-week cycle. Monday, Week 1 – It’s chemo day! I put on my dinosaur pants and monster socks and make my way to the Macmillan Centre for 11am, usually after...
Read MoreLearning to look after myself
I’ve never really paid that much attention to the idea of looking after myself. I’ve long been a burning-the-candle-at-both-ends workaholic who viewed rest as something other people did and that I needed only rarely. I haven’t had a holiday in years, and when I have taken holidays I’ve usually been doing something high-stress concurrently, like skippering a yacht, or producing an...
Read MoreOn Luck
This is me just a month ago on my 32nd birthday, gazing out across the impressive Dzanga Bai at some 30 odd elephants splashing about contentedly in the mud. At the time I’d been waiting a week for my insurance company to arrange my repatriation home from the tiny town of Bayanga in the middle of the Central African rainforest, during which period I agonised constantly over whether the decision...
Read MorePlot Twist
I’m just going to cut to the chase – last week I was diagnosed with cancer. It started in my large bowel and has already managed to sneak its way into my liver. Bowel cancer is 1) very rare in people my age, and 2) notoriously silent until it spreads and starts causing problems, which is why it hasn’t been identified before now. In my case the key problem was the near total obstruction of...
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