The end of the half term was the start of round 4 of chemotherapy. After a disasterous first round of chemo when I ended up on a ward at the Christie – we upped my antisickness to combat the symptoms and allow me to carry on taking it. Now, when I said radiotherapy wasn’t so bad, I wish i could say the same for chemotherapy. But it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. When my mum had picked it up for me on Friday, I looked at the pharmacy bag and heaved. That’s the level of awful that they can make you feel. Chemo is also rude as I have to take it on an empty stomach so it ruins any late night snacking which I’m really good at 🙄! Not every round is awful – my last two months were okay! But this round (that I finish tonight) has decided to be an absolute bastard and keep me in bed ALL day today. Plus my bedside table top drawer just holds thousands of tablets now that I have so many! I’ve had to move my knickers for this!

I’d planned chilled day of recuperating after being so fatigued all week whilst trying to keep the kids entertained whilst living through all of this. But then I woke up feeling terrible. I spent all day sleeping and feeling sorry for myself and leaving everything to Oll. Hats off to him because I don’t know what I’d do without him. I’d felt too ill to eat all day so when I spoke to my mum in the afternoon – best believe she and dad raced round to cook me tea whilst Oll took the kids out for tea to reduce the amount of excited kids screaming to wake me up. We sat in the lounge and ate steak and broccoli (the only thing I fancied) and I remembered how lucky I was to have the most amazing and supportive parents in the world. Just one more round of chemo to take tonight at 10pm, and then this round is over. I should only have 2 months left but the Christie decided to play a fun trick on me where they actually meant 12 months 🙃 so 8 months left for me! 

I’ve also started a group this week which helps you to adjust back to normal life after a shitty diagnosis. It was nice to be in a room of people who had been in a similar situation to me. They were all so lovely and they shared tips with me on how to navigate work, exercise and general life. They were all a bit further down the line from me which was nice because they had ‘experience’. The group started with some relaxation and gentle movement, body tapping and a little lie down at the end – so obvs I loved it 😂 For the rest of the session – it’s exactly like you see in the films. Everyone sits in a circle and my turn to talk comes around… ‘Hi my names Jen and I have a brain tumour’. Then back and forth between us all and the session leaders. I enjoyed my time there and it made me realise that there is so much help out there with some of the things that I’m finding tricky to navigate. 

Roll on 10pm, let’s finish round no 4 and enjoy the rest of the month!

Lots of love, Jen and Nev 

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