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Shannon's Cancer Journey

  • Half way there! End of chemo cycle two!

      17 May 2019

    It’s been 3 weeks since my last update, sorry for the delay but it just means we had a pretty good and uneventful cycle two thankfully- a few speed bumps with reflux but the nausea was better and no ED trips this time round (I did plan ahead and buy an inflatable mattress just Incase that is now a permanent fixture in my car!) so thankful that I haven’t needed it! So very thankful to all our fabulous friends being there again with dinners and support mentally and practically - sharon Lynch, my neighbor Glenyse with lovely aromatherapy, the fab Crystal Robb and Rodney from crush fit coming around with their amazing dinner and dessert - so need that dessert recipe crystal! As well as the gorgeous gifts and donations from their fundraiser xx Loved the offers of support from our CG boot camp leader Leon Heikell and his gorgeous wife Varnier Heikell xx I promise I’ll catch up as soon as I have a day that I’m not working or at chemo xx and Sandy James for her reiki that instantly cured the vomiting and reflux and nausea not just once but twice for Shan and gave me a great week of sleep after having insomnia for years! This finally finally got me into a place where I could think about putting my complaint in about our gp and make a move to enroll us both with a new one that hopefully we can trust - time will tell and I’m not likely to take substandard treatment ever again so I hope they’re up for the challenge! As for our progress with the cancer- we are half way through as of Sunday so only 6 weeks to go and the 3 tumour markers are normal to almost normal so we are on the right track to a complete cure according to the drs on Wednesday!! woop woop!! Just need to manage the chemo side effects and low iron count for the next two cycles and we’re hopefully back to a different but more normal life! It’ll be a long road before this momma shark (Thanks for that title gene and Marie lol) feels comfortable with her health and GP care but it’s been a wake up call for us all to not put off tests, or to let our GPs make us feel like we are hypochondriacs as sometimes- IT MIGHT JUST BE CANCER!

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  • Newspaper report

      10 May 2019

    Please enter the link below into your web browser to read Shannon's newspaper story from Christchurch. Hopefully the word gets out and helps to save others from going through this or other issues - GP's need to be held accountable and think more about the patients welfare and less about money - yes a test is expensive but its way less than the cost of Chemo drugs or a person's life!

    https://metronews.co.nz/article/cancer-sufferers-no-longer-have-faith-in-their-gps?fbclid=IwAR20evJ0-vZnMuIk4vXQV6Fz80cTkQp2CoEsfYl0WtNlZF2Bg4bG_FZzTcY

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  • Cycle one of chemo done!

      23 April 2019

    Well the past 3 weeks have been interesting! the 5 day chemo as an inpatient went OK, the first 3 days Shannon was feeling good but then day 4 hit and the nausea was crippling! None of the meds seemed to make a difference at all, her appetite changed - no more was she wanting vegetarian food - I think It would have been cheaper to buy shares in McDonalds! I was racing back and forth from work to McDonalds doing the breakfast run for BLT bagel which she had craved for 3 days then back at lunchtime so the nausea didn't get too bad and then more for dinner! thankfully that was short lived and by day 5 she was wanting fruit. I was living out of her single room, it was well set up with a comfy recliner during the day and a mattress on the floor at night - I called it my Auckland apartment! - it was very close to work - especially on Wednesdays when I was down at Starship working so no Auckland traffic for me (silver lining). Day one of being discharged we both came down with a virus and on her first outpatient chemo day we had to get a Dr to review her - luckily chemo was not delayed - the following night she had a bad neck pain and headache with vomiting so back up to Akl ED we went and 12 hours later after 1 1/2 bags of IV Fluids and multiple tests AND after no sleep for me sitting on a hard plastic chair I got a little bit cranky (OK a lot!) and I discharged her! I slept for 2 days straight after that since Shannon had a few good days and was out and about socialising. I just had time to recover from the last week before we had week three of her chemo and at 11pm that night she got a high fever and the headache again - this time I knew what to do - I rehydrated her, cooled her down and gave her panadol and ibuprofen and we managed to get the fever down and get some sleep and avoid the dreaded ED trip!! So now we face the 5 day/6hour a day triple therapy chemo as an outpatient - this will be a challenging week juggling work and appts but we will get through it and tick another week off as we go! Thanks for all the donations, we are blown away with how generous you all are! it will not be through until next month but the first purchase will be for a wig as her hair will most likely start to fall out in the next few weeks. her bills will be next on the list just to take that stress of being in debt away from her - so again a huge thankyou xxx

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