*** Contains Graphic Photograph below ***

Monday 30^th September 2019

I had a lovely weekend – my two sisters and one of my brothers came up to see me on Saturday. I think they enjoyed their visit. I wasn’t too tired and had taken my pain killers in good time so was OK with all the chatting etc. It did wipe me out a bit on Sunday though.

I went with Nigel to do a bit of shopping – I think the fresh air woke me up a bit but I had lots of rest in the afternoon.

I had another bad night with my neck wound – really sore and itchy – I again had to clean it up and reapply Epimax cream which does cool it a bit. I am now taking two Co-Codamol tablets at a time which makes me very sleepy so after I took them at 04.00 I fell asleep until 08.30.

I had a small amount of scrambled egg for breakfast gearing myself up for the last week – hoping that the burning doesn’t get too much worse – it’s like a very bad case of sunburn at the moment.

Zapping was OK today – the mask was a bit tight but not so bad. We had to see Sophie the dietician again – just for a catch up. She seemed pleased and did understand how I feel about putting weight on after seeing my ‘then and now’ pic stuck on the front of the fridge.

Tuesday 1^st October 2019

I had a better night’s sleep but it was really painful when I cleaned up my wound this morning – so bad in fact it made me cry.

This morning at Slimming World I again put on a pound – not sure how as I’m eating so little now. My friend Lyn was very helpful – got me to the scales quickly – she does rather take over – bless her.

Treatment was painful – the mask was very tight, pressing down on my wound – I thought that the headrest was higher but they said it wasn’t. It did feel like I was being choked – only a quick zapping though.

We spoke with Fiona and Laura after I was done. Nigel wanted to know if it was alright for me to take some OraMorph midway between my tablets to help with the pain when I clean the wound up. They said it was so I’m on even stronger pain control now but another that makes me drowsy – I slept most of the afternoon.

Wednesday 2^nd October 2019

I had a better night’s sleep – I did wake and clean up my wound in the early hours but it wasn’t so painful.

Nigel gave me some more morphine this morning and I managed a wound clean-up and a warm shower. Side effect of the stronger pain killer is it gives me a floating dizzy feeling as well as being sleepy so I’m just doing a lot of nothing now.

Zapping was late today and yet another team. We had to explain about the cling film before they fitted the mask. They went to leave but Nigel had to remind them to position the table before doing the scan and zapping me which was worrying – what would have happened if he hadn’t been there? I asked them to talk to me while they were doing the scan but I didn’t hear a thing although Nigel said he heard them say something. I don’t think they turned the Tannoy on. I was gritting my teeth and made it without panicking.

The doctor looked at my wound and said that after therapy it will take another ten days or so before things start to heal quickly and that she will keep an eye on me during that time.

Thursday 3^rd October 2019

Penultimate day – my throat was very tight this morning – it took a while to be able to swallow. I had to crush all my tablets up and take them with a spoonful of yoghurt. Can’t even manage the small ones now.

Before treatment we saw Henrietta, she was a speech therapist and something to do with swallowing. I don’t think it was much good speaking to her at this late stage as it’s my last day tomorrow but I listened and nodded at the right times.

I had a bad day with the mask – very tight and I felt I couldn’t breath – it took three tries to get it fitted where I could breathe a bit. They were very good though and the zapping was quick.

Friday 4^th October 2019

Last day of treatment – I thought I would be more excited than I was – I think it is because I am so tired and have been for the last couple of days.

Today the mask hurt a bit but I pushed through that. We gave the team a big box of Roses chocolates as a Thank you. Adam was kind enough to push me back to Reception so that Nigel could video me coming in and ringing the bell signalling the end of my treatment. I have been putting my daily Vlog on YouTube – The last one is here.

Carol gave me some dressing to cover my wound at night (to stop it sticking to the sheets) and we had to pick up some Flamazine cream from the Pharmacy. We watched a couple of lads busking by the Coffee Shop as we waited to collect it. They were raising money for the hospital so we chucked a couple of quid in their bucket.

I had intended to stop the Blog here but I think I will do another one when I have made a bit of a recovery so you get an idea of how long it takes. At the moment it’s so difficult to swallow I’m not eating anything worth talking about hardly drinking and it’s even difficult to get 5ml of OraMorph down – so I’m struggling.