Last Updated on January 8, 2025 by Tom Kane
Cancer is a terrible disease, not something you would wish on your own worst enemy. But it does have side effects, or the cure has, chemotherapy in my case, that have proved quite useful.
Those of you who are little squeamish, should look away now.
In reality, my cure for the Lymphoma, is so all encompassing it’s proven more debilitating than the cancer was. My chemotherapy is injected into my stomach on a weekly basis, with the start of the cycle being a two-day infusion that leaves me weak and sickly. The pills I must take for pain relief (the chemo attacks the marrow and consequently the bones go brittle and painful) have side effects, i.e., constipation. Other pills I take for diabetes and my heart have similar side effects. In the end, I’ve turned to an old favourite, liquorice, to help clear the inevitable blockage.
So, I have come to a point where in the last year I have spent around forty minutes sitting on my toilet waiting for a movement down below. But that’s okay, because in that time I’ve used my smartphone to read lots. I’m a bit of a science geek, so I’ve used the BBC News app to gain an insight into all sorts of technology I would have missed if it had not been for the dynamic C-THREOO – Cancer, Chemo & Constipation. These three have led to a better understanding across subjects like science, the environment, technology, and a few other subjects.
As the saying goes, every cloud has a silver lining. And so it has proven with a deadly disease that has allowed this old guy to keep on learning and hence keep my brain working and help me in my bid for staying alive.
Copyright © Tom Kane 2022
