Category: Cancer Journey

I was extremely privileged to be offered yet another chapter of expert care. Respiratory Physiotherapy was to take place at the Royal Brompton with Jacob Beard. In the first session Jacob got me to breath normally in a relaxed seated position whilst he observed and timed my breathing. I had read 2 books about breathing:…

In November 2022 we were beginning to socialise again after a long period of lockdown. We were happy to be invited out to see some dear friends with a young family. We had a lovely time, but unfortunately I caught some viral infection from one of the young ones! Quite often a virus will linger…

When the thyroid gland is removed, the parathyroid glands frequently get bruised during surgery and mild hypoparathyroidism is rather common after surgery but usually resolves after a few days to weeks.  In my case, the parathyroid glands stop didn’t recover for about 20 months. I needed to take a calcium supplement during that time. By…

One consequence of the variety of treatments that I have been through is that I have learnt quite a few new words. An example being: Supraglottoplasty! I am certainly not a small child, however, some of the anatomy of my throat had prolapsed due to the absence of innervation on the right hand side. If…

I think that one reason that I have not found my treatment arduous is that I tend to treat it like a science experiment or project involving myself. It really is quite incredible and fascinating what can be done! This is particularly the case with the Continuous Laryngoscopy During Exercise (CLE). This is a cutting…

RadioIodine Treatment is a special form of therapy aimed specifically at thyroid cancer. The thyroid gland is the only organ that absorbs Iodine. Following nuclear accidents, people are given Iodine supplements so that they will be prevented from absorbing any radioactive iodine that would kill their healthy thyroid cells. In the case of thyroid cancer,…

My first speech therapy session was via video. This was during lockdown and when you are attempting to enunciate and project your voice, there are a lot of aspirants in the air and that is not good for the therapist! In later sessions I was able to go in person to Worthing. The speech therapist…

A couple of weeks later I returned to Worthing hospital to see the surgeon. He told me that everything had gone well. He then informed me that the tumour in my thyroid gland had grown out and invaded my recurrent laryngeal nerve. He had therefore removed the nerve and this now meant that my right…

In April 2021, Adrian drove me over to Brighton Hospital for my surgery. He wasn’t able to come in so he dropped me off early in the morning with my bag. After being put in a hospital gown and given various pre-op tests, I walked down to theatre which was good as I didn’t feel…