Pain and Patches

This is The Headland Hotel in Torbay, isnt it beautiful? It was originally built for the Russian Royal Family and many of the original features remain - including the lift !

We were lucky enough to be upgraded to one of the turret suites you can see in the picture, with fantastic sea views. And for once the weather forecast was completely wrong - we had brilliant sunshine for the whole weekend although there was a very chilly wind. In fact the whole weekend was lovely, we spent Saturday exploring Dartmoor, getting lost and finding a 700 year old pub to have lunch in.


Part of the evening entertainment provided by the hotel was bingo. Martin, being a 'bingo virgin' was a bit reluctant at first, but after a couple of games he was well and truly hooked - to the extent of buying his very own 'dabber' ! Needless to say we didnt win but had a lot of fun trying.


During the weekend I was getting quite a bit of pain from the 'new' tumour on my right hand side. Ofcourse until last week I had no idea it was a tumour causing this pain - I thought it was muscular in origin and as such it was quite easy to dismiss as 'a pulled muscle which will get better'. Is the pain really worse or is it purely psychological now I know the real cause? I dont know to be honest. Im certainly more aware of it, especially as I can not only feel the tumour under my skin but can also see it protruding.
Mary, my Macmillan nurse rang this morning about my scan results and to see how I was. She wasnt at all surprised to hear I was in quite a lot of pain as she had seen the scan herself and the size of the tumour. After discussing it with a doctor at the hospice she said she had some ideas for pain relief and would be straight round. And she was. With some pain killing patches, which along with regular paracetamol, should do the trick. I hope so, I really dont want to start taking anything stronger just yet. Ive had it on since this morning and it does seem to have dulled the pain a bit, except if I bend down or twist - so Im trying to avoid doing that !

We had a nice long chat too and with her help I managed to get things back in perspective. Ok, so I have a big lump sticking out of my side and it appears to be growing....BUT...it isnt invading a vital organ and there is no reason to believe that Sutent wont start working on this one soon. Mary also mentioned it may be worth considering radiotherapy - which Im not too keen on to say the least - but if it stops this thing growing it would be worth it.

The MTM is this Friday so Im really hoping to get some answers. Such as whether this is a serious setback or just a slight blip. Because I still have some serious cruising to do yet !