Faith and Cancer

When I started writing this blog some years ago, focusing on worship and leadership in the church I had no idea that I would one day be writing about my experiences with cancer. In some ways I have gone against one of the unwritten 'rules' of blogging in that I have not stuck rigidly to one core subject. However, My blog is about life. Life is complicated and a bit messy and often you have more than one 'hat' that you wear. I so happen to wear the hat of a worship leader and one of cancer sufferer/survivor. I wanted to share my experiences with cancer and reflect how my faith has played an important role  - even in this aspect of my life.

Wow - Friday was a day of pain! I took my fourth GCSF injection to stimulate my bone marrow on Thursday evening. Based on past experience, the fourth injection causes the pain. This one did not disappoint! Friday was a day of pain. In fact I think it was the most painful it has ever been. I was totally incapacitated on the sofa popping painkillers like sweets. At one point in the afternoon even the sofa was too painful to sit on, so I went and lay in bed for a few hours - if I didn't move the pain subsided a little.

Looking good after chemo 6 although my head looks a bit like the ostrich egg to the right! Thank you to all who have been praying and sending messages of support. Thursday saw me attend my sixth session of Chemotherapy at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn. I am pleased to say there is nothing much to report. There were no unexpected happenings or nasty surprises. Everything went as it should and even a bit quicker than I am used to.

By Stethoscopes (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0] via Wikimedia Commons Things were going fairly well this cycle (cycle 5 of chemotherapy) until last week Thursday. A few days leading up to Thursday things down below were stinging when I went to the toilet. A fairly common side effect that I have suffered from continually during my treatment is chronic constipation. So I thought nothing of it - it was something that was commonplace and I just had to put up with it. However, Thursday was quite a hot day and by the evening I was curled up on the sofa under a blanket, shivering!

Photo from pexels.com The other day I watched a silly movie with my wife called Last Vegas with Morgan Freeman, Michael Douglas, Robert De Nero and Kevin Kline. It is not my usual type of movie, a bit rude in places, but only rated 12 so no need to panic! It explores the relationships of life long friends who are now octogenarians, so as you can imagine there is a fair amount of reminiscing about the good old days. The thing that struck me was that - I want to grow old!