A few bad months :( and it continues

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, David has been through hell and back and it doesn't get much better for me either.

Unfortunately David's bad back showed he had a fracture at L1 and  we eventually discovered this was caused by a cancerous growth growing in the bone on David's spine (metastatic nasopharnyx cancer) and a shadow on his pelvis.  What a shock for us.  When we were told David had been taken into hospital, he was on such high medication (morphine and fentanyl patches) that they were causing him to have falls and horrid hallucinations.  How we managed for those few days before we went into hospital I don't know. 

To cut a long story short, David was transferred to Norfolk and Norwich Hospital (from James Paget Hospital in Suffolk) and was in that hospital 3 weeks, a total of over 3.5 weeks.  During that time he underwent a 6+ hour operation to have his spine stabilized.  David now has rods and bolts in his back as well as cement. Thankfully one of my sisters live a 10 minute drive from that hospital so I stayed with her for 3 weeks and was able to be David's carer in hospital so was there each day from around 7 am - 10 pm. Once home and after a couple of weeks David had 5 sessions of radiotherapy as an outpatient and is now recovering slowly.

I'm afraid to tell you that the cancer is not curable now it's in his bones, all the hospital can offer is pallative care.  All we can pray is that it does not spread.  David will have regular scans and visits to his oncology consultant and we will take each day, week and month as it comes.  We have been told the cancer could spread within the next few months - it's a waiting game and not a nice one.

At present I am having problems with Social Services as we have been referred to them to have our bathroom changed to a wet room as at present I have to give David bed baths and as we have a bath in our bathroom, and cannot afford to get this done ourselves.  I really don't have the energy and motivation to argue and keep pushing it, but have got as many professionals involved as I can in the hope they can help push it forward so the council awards us a grant to get the work done.  So if anyone knows of any tips or has won the lottery (???!!!) please think of us :o)

Unfortunately we had to cancel our holiday, not least because David wasn't well enough but also because our consultant advised it.  David hasn't been up to going far, just up the coast to look out and sit outside in the front garden.  At least the weather has been kind to us.

My health has not been good mentally so I have only made the odd card this month, out of necessity as I refuse to buy them with such a lot of crafty stash in the bedroom!

I will try and keep you informed as and when I can xxx