Hi Jan,

I am so sorry to hear about your prognosis. I can certainly appreciate how devastated you must have been when told this and fully appreciate how hard it must be for you to deal with this. I am glad to hear that you have been relatively well looked after by the system, in spite of the current pandemic limitations. 

As someone who has had 2 bouts of breast cancer in the past 11 years as well as 3 biopsies for melanoma, I would agree that the personal touch and compassion can be a bit lacking at times. I had to change hospital at one stage because of this and have never regretted this move. I just lost all confidence in my first 'care team' and felt that the 'care' element was totally missing. What a difference I experienced when I moved to another hospital. 

I am so glad to hear that you have such good support from family and friends. We all need this along with a positive outlook to cope with cancer. I am delighted to hear that radiotherapy has shrunk your tumour. You are doing the right thing by not looking too far ahead and just taking things day by day or even hour by hour as necessary.

I hope that you managed your Chinese takeaway tonight and that you thoroughly enjoyed it - here's hoping that there will be many more to come!

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx

Hi Jan,

I am so sorry to hear about your prognosis. I can certainly appreciate how devastated you must have been when told this and fully appreciate how hard it must be for you to deal with this. I am glad to hear that you have been relatively well looked after by the system, in spite of the current pandemic limitations. 

As someone who has had 2 bouts of breast cancer in the past 11 years as well as 3 biopsies for melanoma, I would agree that the personal touch and compassion can be a bit lacking at times. I had to change hospital at one stage because of this and have never regretted this move. I just lost all confidence in my first 'care team' and felt that the 'care' element was totally missing. What a difference I experienced when I moved to another hospital. 

I am so glad to hear that you have such good support from family and friends. We all need this along with a positive outlook to cope with cancer. I am delighted to hear that radiotherapy has shrunk your tumour. You are doing the right thing by not looking too far ahead and just taking things day by day or even hour by hour as necessary.

I hope that you managed your Chinese takeaway tonight and that you thoroughly enjoyed it - here's hoping that there will be many more to come!

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx

Hi Jolamine

tgank you for your reply. Glad to hear you are still battling through and hope your cancer stays at bay. I have just eaten my 1st sausage role in over 5 months an the Chinese went down well. Taste buds still need sorting as cannot stand fizzy drinks as taste weird an more savoury stuff tastes better than sweet.

was upsetting this afternoon though as grandson (live with my daughter an grandsons) was sent home from school as he keeps getting upset when he thinks about how long he will have his nan with him bless. They are arranging councilling for him as I am not sure what to say to him. Try to reassure him I am fine at the moment (he is s 15) and exams coming up soon so hope he can focus on that. Feeling well at moment so just enjoying that well feeling. Take care an stay strong xx

Hi Jan,

I understand that it does take some time for the taste abnormaities to settle. I am delighted to hear that you managed a sausage roll and that the Chinese went down a treat.

I am so sorry to hear how upset your grandson is about your prognosis. He is at a difficult age to try and process this. You will find that the more positive you and your daughter can be about your outlook, the better he is likely to cope. I sincerely hope that counselling will help him and set him in the right frame of mind to succeed in his exams.

My own mum spoke to my teenage children when she knew that she was dying. She told them how much she wanted them to succeed in life and that she would be watching over them throughout their lives. Whether that was taken as a solace or a threat I don't know, but both did really well in their exams despite all that was going on.

I hope that all goes well when you speak to your consultant on 17th and that he will arrange a scan for you soon.

It's good to hear that you are feeling well at present - savour every moment!

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx