4.5 years and counting

I today had my last but one hospital appointment before the all clear. (Five years being the all clear) Having been through mouth cancer you know when something is not quite right but today I was confident if not nervous. Jen, my wife was on her way to New York the first time I had missed an appointment without her, but safe in the knowledge that I was ok.

I had cheated before hand as I had seen my dentist on Friday and attended today just before my hospital appointment so I had the double safeguard.

This check up was even more nerve racking having visited my mother on Friday. Mum is not the woman I knew she is frail, less than 6 stones and potentially with cancer. Mum has also Lewins Dementia which is a very nasty form in itself and has seen my mother over the last 10 years fall victim to this shocking illness.

The challenges of living with the after effects of cancer cannot be understated. I have often raised the point of the mental effects of the treatment but also the physical side. In my own case I get on with life with a half functioning muscle system in the top of of my shoulder and neck. I tend to shy away from the term less-abled because I do most things just takes me a bit longer to do things and hurts more! It has also left me partially deaf and physically scared though you have to look hard to see the joins where they sewed my head back on!

So as I move into the last 6 months of my remission I have been invited to sit with the SW peninsula head and neck experts as a patient representative, a task I wholly relish but one I hope can support clinicians and patients through this horrid journey.

Keep attacking Nige