It's been a busy week all round. Appointments with a neuropsychologist and a clinical psychologist both trying to sort out Colin's head (memory, concentration, thoughts and moods, etc) but not conflicting parts. And then yesterday the Worcester Hammer Out Brain Tumours support meeting held at St Richard's. This, as always, was a very useful session and it was a shame we had to leave early. We all had the opportunity to share our experiences and this is always enlightening. There are so many different types of brain tumours but the sufferers all seem to have common difficulties including memory problems, poor balance, speech and visual impairments, loss of sense of smell etc., and the frustrations of not being able to do things that they were able to before the illness, such as problem solving, and not being independent anymore (including not being able to drive and 'not being allowed out alone in case of sudden collapse'). The carers, in this case partners and parents/children, are also able to share experiences - it is good to know that others understand what you're going through.
By the way, many thanks for those of you who have had the courage to send comments - we do monitor them all before publishing them to preserve anonymity, but please don't let that put you off sending them! These have been particularly useful as they have revealed that at least one other person in the UK has been diagnosed with the same rare brain tumour as Colin and has suffered similar side effects from the treatment. This has provided more information than we have been able to discover from the medics up until now. So these blogs are really worthwhile!
A few friends popped in this week, one in particular to check on the existence of the new cooker - which is great, by the way!
Colin and Jane.