1 September - Feeling Fine

Tuesday 1 September - Feeling fine again. I think chemo is a bit like childbirth…you forget the horrible bits very quickly. That said I am still going to ask Dr S what we can do to make the side effects from the next one a bit more bearable for going on hols.

It’s been a busy few days. From about Wednesday last week I started to recover quite quickly even to the extent that I could taste a glass of wine on Friday…..those who know me well will take this an excellent indicator of my state of health!

I had a bit more time on my hands that day than I expected as my laptop crashed in a rather spectacular manner and as I was working from home there was little I could do. ….our IT team were very good and did eventually get me access to my e-mail via my home PC. In the meantime I caught up with some friends for lunch and managed to see Mr P for a quick consultation about another little ‘complication’ from the surgery. A few weeks after surgery I noticed a tightening in my upper left arm. This became quite painful and thin cords started to appear just under the skin running from my armpit to my wrist. This is called axillary web syndrome (AWS) and occurs quite often after the type of surgery I’ve had. The ‘cords’ are part of the lymph system that seem to harden after surgery. In my case it has improved a great deal and I now only have a few ‘cords’ and a funny lump on the underside my upper arm, which is getting smaller but Mr P wanted to check it out. The upshot is that it is fine. I wanted to mention it because it is quite common but little is known about it and some people apparently find it very distressing. They shouldn’t. I did some research into it and the acute phase when there is some discomfort or pain is very short and specialists agree that it does resolve in nearly every case after about 3 months.

One of the rather odd things that happens with AWS is that if you stretch your arm, as I do in Pilates classes, some of the cords will snap. This is a very weird feeling but also brings significant relief.

The rest of the bank holiday weekend was busy with golf, an eighteenth birthday bash and the first anniversary of a bookshop owned by a friend - Barton's Bookshop in Leatherhead. He had invited Prue Leith to cut the birthday cake and sign some copies of her recent book. The cake was fantastic…even Prue agreed. She is a delightful lady and I really like her book - called Choral Society. I recommend it.

The wig continues to thrive.