Fighting Bobby: a dramatic first week of treatment

So, I started chemotherapy and radiotherapy last Monday. It was all going swimmingly — I didn’t feel nauseous or sick or really have any side effects. Until about 5 hours later…after which I spent the rest of the day vomiting. But apparently that’s quite normal — I guess it’s kind of like alcohol, your body needs some time to adjust to it.

I was still feeling sick on Tuesday morning, and the hospital gave me some stronger anti-sickness pills. I felt a bit drowsy, muddled and my words weren’t coming out quite right (I kept saying I’d eaten 5 crumpets…when I’d actually had 2) — but I thought it was just side effects from the medication, so I went to bed.

A couple of hours later shit hit the fan…

I woke up, vomiting again with a very high temperature, and felt extremely confused — I knew I needed help. My boyfriend Tom called an ambulance, and by the time it arrived (in less than 10 minutes — amazing!) they found me in what they called an “altered mental state”…

1. Do you know where you are? Do you know who you are? Who is this person (Tom)? What city are we in? What year is it? — the answer to all these questions was no.
2. “Help, help, think, think” — was all I could communicate to Tom in the ambulance.
3. I couldn’t remember Tom and Steph’s name (for a whole day!)
4. And in general couldn’t remember names for things e.g. toothbrush, phone or sandwich

This is the attempt to write some friends names… Steph has a new nickname of ‘Sops’

Apparently it was a combination of things, the bruising from the biopsy, swelling in my brain (oedema) and the tumour having grown a little — which is why they were so keen to start my treatment. I had an assessment with the speech therapist on the Friday. She diagnosed me with “persisting moderate expressive and mild moderate receptive aphasia”.

The medical pack is a recipe for a whole host of contradictions — from constipation, drowsiness and keeping me awake

The medical pack that they sent me home with was enormous. But the steroids are working to reduce the swelling, and my words are coming back (I’m relieved that I can now write this blog!). The plan is to continue with the chemotherapy and radiotherapy as planned to reduce the size of tumour too.

Looking back it’s slightly terrifying (and everyone else is still mildly traumatised). That’s the thing with brain tumours, you can loose your ability to communicate, think and reason. But the body is resilient. I’m already so much better. Despite all the trauma, I managed to not miss any of my chemotherapy or radiotherapy. 1 week of treatment down, and Bobby isn’t getting the better of me!

I managed to keep up with Coronation Street too.

I am proud to be working with Brain Tumour Research to raise awareness of the disease and the issues faced by patients and their families.