Hi and Welcome....

The reason for my blog is that Colin had Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma (secondary kidney cancer). In addition to this, his eldest brother David died in April 2008, 5 weeks after being diagnosed with Laryngeal Cancer and his elder sister Sue was diagnosed with Lobular Breast Cancer in March 2009 and sadly passed away in June 2014. All that said, I am still smiling and trying to be up beat about everything because if I wasn’t I don’t think I would cope as well as I have so far. Sadly Colin passed away on 23rd Dec 2009.

If you would like to follow or comment on this blog, then please feel free.

Friday 31 July 2009

Radiotherapy Has Started

No more trips to Manchester now then.

Went to Cheltenham yesterday and saw a really helpful Doctor who not only saw Colin at very short notice but also spoke to Dr P from QE, Birmingham and discussed to best course of treatment for Colin. It was decided that the best course of treatment would be Radiotherapy.

So he had his first lot yesterday at 5pm and the next at 11am today followed by 3 more on Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday next week.

While we were in Cheltenham we went to see an old friend Rob who has a pub down there called the Somerset Arms, which was only 5 mins away from the hospital.

Not only does Colin have to go the Cheltenham 5 times but we also have to go there on Sat & Sun as Kieran is camping with Cubs at the Morgan Centenery Festival on Cheltenham Racecourse this weekend, so I think we will have had enough of the place by Wednesday.

Thursday 30 July 2009

Off to Cheltenham

Treatment in Manchester has been suspended until Colin's head has been sorted (that could take a while ;-)).

After a lot of hassle - Colin not being referred to oncology by the hospital last week and us having to go and ask GP on Monday to refer him, I managed to get Colin an Appt with an Oncologist in Cheltenham for Thurs at 12.30.
They originally offered him an Appt for Wed 5th Aug, which I said was not acceptable and that he needed to be seen this week and hey it worked. I can be very persuasive when I need to be.

I will try and update this later with any more news.

Friday 24 July 2009

Manchester cancelled....

We have not gone to Manchester today for Colin's CT Scan.

On Wed Colin went to see our GP as he has been having problems with his left arm, his eyesight and he keeps forgetting words or what he is trying to say.

Then at 9 am yesterday she phoned and asked me to take him to MAU (medical assessment unit) at our local hospital so they could do a CT scan of his head.
They did a CT scan at 3.30 yesterday and it showed that he has metastasis (tumors) on his brain which are causing the problems with his arm, eye's and memory. They have kept him in overnight and hopefully he will be seeing an Oncologist today to discuss the findings and hopefully a treatment plan.

Wednesday 22 July 2009

Butlins, Minehead

We had a nice week away in Minehead, I think we picked the right week for good weather. Colin even went on one of the rides on the funfair.
We went down to Sue's on the Sunday and stayed the night as the holiday was Mon-Fri.


While we were at Butlin's Kieran went on the K2 Experience (Britain’s highest outdoor climbing structure)





It has low ropes, high ropes, leap of faith, zip wire, climbing wall and an absail, he enjoyed the whole thing except the absailing.


After a fairly relaxed week we headed back to Sue's. Because we got to Sue's early afternoon we took a trip to Clark's Village at Street. (which hit the purse hard but saved quite a bit too). We took Holly to her scout camp and on the way back we stopped off at a pub in North Fitzwarren called The Allerford Inn and had a really nice meal at a very reasonable price.