Hi there and welcome back to my blog. How are you? I hope you are well. Today I’m going to talk about what happens when you are diagnosed. This is what happened to me.
- You will lose friends but make new ones`
- You are constantly tired
- Your balance is weaker
- You will forget everything
- Your tastes buds will change
- Your eyesight will get worse
- Your muscles are weaker
You will lose friends but make new ones
As I spoke about in an earlier blog post, I had lunch with my old best friend from nursery, before I had started radiotherapy. I have not seen or heard from him since. Every year I do like to send him a happy birthday message, one on his facebook and another to him via whatsapp, but I don’t get one back.
The past is behind me and now I have new friends at the Coventry Brain Tumour Support group, the Coventry Macmillans group, Carers Trust, Mercia MS centre (where I go for my hyperbaric oxygen chamber), the Earls of Uke, the Young Brain Tumour charity, the West Midlands Young Shine Cancer group and at Tai Chi.
In fact, here’s a video of me and the rest of The Earls of Uke playing some Christmas songs at this pasts month’s Christmas concert.
You are constantly tired
I wish I knew what part of the brain makes you tired, whether its the whole brain or a certain part. But I’m always tired, I’ve learnt to just deal with it. That and these energy balls that me and my mum make, (but my dad keeps on stealing). This kind of energy are a short burst of energy that I have just before going for a walk or going on the treadmill.They give me a small burst of energy to do the things that I want to do.
Your balance is weaker
As I’ve discussed in an earlier blog post, in the middle of my radiotherapy, as I was going upstairs, I fell down them. Ever since then, I struggle with standing on one leg and counting to ten, Theses excises, that I’ve been doing since physiotherapy at the Myton Hospice has definitely helped me with this.
You will forget everything
Well not everything, only short term memory. Unless, like me, and got a fluid blockage in your brain, then you forget a lot more. Ever since the Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber, my short term memory has improved ever so slightly.
Your tastes buds will change
Now this one surprised me. Before my diagnosis, I used to eat a lot of spicy food and I would hate aubergines. Now its the other way around. I can’t stand spicy food and I love aubergines. Although, just recently I’ve been slowly adding spices to my everyday meals.
Your eyesight will get worse
Because I had a tumour pushing on the optic nerve, my eyesight, especially my right eye, has gotten worse. I can still drive legally, but the hospital haven’t cleared me to drive yet. Ever since using the Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber, my eyesight has improved but it doesn’t work for everybody.
Your muscles are weaker
Ever since radiotherapy/my holiday in March, my right side is much weaker than my left side. Once again I don’t know why my right side is weaker than my left side. Considering that I do most things with my right side, I strum my ukulele, with my right hand and I carry most things with my right hand.
And there you go, of course, things might be different for you. You might have amazing friends, your taste buds might not change, you might not get tired at all (I hope), your balance might not get weaker and your memory might not get weaker. But these are the things that happened to me. Yes it’s sad that I get tired and yes it is depressing that I’ve lost my best friend from primary school, but these are the breaks.
Once again, I just want to thank a few people. Firstly, I would like to thank my mum, dad, sister and my Naughty Mamaji, for being by my side, throughout everything. I would like to thank Louise from BTS for sharing this with the community. I would like to thank Kanika, Shirley and everyone at Carers Trust for giving me the confidence to sharing my story and I would like to thank Joe for motivating me to getting back on the horse. And I would like to thank everyone at the hospital, my family and friends and everyone who I’ve met on this journey.
Please feel free to leave a comment and don’t forget, if you buy something from Amazon through the blog, or click on a link, 100% of the money that I get goes to Brain Tumour Support.
The next time I will talk to you, I will talk about in further detail about how I lost weight.
Thanks and I hope to see you soon.
