Stomping through puddles

So here goes with my first post of my first ever blog, inspired in no small measure by my brother's glorious medical elective blog, all the way from the Amazon rainforest (I can highly recommend it if you haven't seen it already, just google 'Michael Austin elective' and it's the first hit). I had the bright idea that this, my official brain blog, might be a good way to let people know how I am, as well as providing a sort of journal or record for myself of this funny, odd time. It's a time where I'm stepping briefly off track - a diagnosis of a brain tumour, brain surgery, and 8 months of further treatment mean that my PhD is temporarily on hold; and enforced teetotalness and a vague feeling of queasiness mean my social life is also slightly on hold! So I'm stepping off track for a bit, but I have every intention of getting back on track in a few months time. In the meantime, I think, therefore I blog (I can't be the first one to have said that!).
At the moment, I'm doing 6 weeks of intensive radiotherapy with concomitant (the technical term!) chemotherapy - they're designed to complement each other. 'Intensive' means every day - I go every day, Monday to Friday, to the lovely Christie hospital in Manchester for a session of radiotherapy, and the chemotherapy consists of taking 4 little tablets at home (the tablets are 7 days a week). As an aside, one of my first observations about radiotherapy is that all the radiographers are very young and glamourous. Intrigue! So far, I've been walking over to the Christie, which is about 2 miles away from our house. The exercise feels good, and sometimes I listen to music and sometimes I just walk. Stephen came with me the first couple of times, but I've started going on my own now. I like going on my own because it fits better with my self image as Independent Woman Taking Things In Her Stride. And I just like walking in general. Although I am aiming to go on my bike eventually. We'll see. Anyway, today there were severe weather warnings, and 4 inches of flood water outside our front door. So I put on my wellies and Stephen's waterproof coat, put my brolly up, and headed off, having promised to call for a lift if I needed rescuing. However, far from needing to be rescued, I had a marvellous time stomping through puddles and listening to the satisfying pitter patter of raindrops on my rather fetching new Accessorize brolly. I had an early appointment today, so they saw me on time (I've realised that the later the appointment, the later the machines are running). Each session takes about 15 minutes in total, so I was in and out pretty quickly today. After my first week of treatment, I'm feeling pretty good - my appetite is a bit subdued, but otherwise I feel quite normal. Long may it last! With regard to the appetite, I'm seeing it as a clever balance to the weeks I was on steroids around my operation, during which I felt compelled to eat anything and everything I could get my hands on! So this is the first installment of my brain blog - future installments will be somewhat shorter. (Stephen thinks I should adopt micro-blogging principles and commnicate in 140 characters. Hmm.) But anyway, this one is just for practice and to kick us off. I'll blog again soon! x