Having recently been diagnosed with ALL I started to write on my Facebook page trying to keep friends and family up to date with what was happening.  However I have since decided that while I will continue to write on Facebook, maybe once a week, I don’t want to start to be that annoying person that people avoid online as I am all poor me and driving them up the wall.  So that is why I am here writing this blog.  Writing here means that I can vent my feeling as often as I want or need to and at the same time I am not forcing anyone to have to deal with my crap which can only be a good thing for all involved.

So as of two weeks ago on Thursday my new home away from home has become the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre, which while I can say in all honesty I wish was not the case, could actually be a lot worse.  I was taken down here from Raigmore Hospital, where I had spent two nights, and will be down here in Glasgow for the foreseeable future.

So how did this all come about?  I guess it started about a year ago around the autumn of 2014 when my back started to play up.  It started as a twinge that moved to my kidney.  After putting up with it for a while I decided that I should probably go and see the doctor.  Now on the whole, given my weight (a little on the well the excessive side), I have been extremely healthy.  Sure I have suffered from poor mental health since my early 20’s but I finally have that under control and thus pretty much avoid the doctor’s as much as possible.  However my back was beginning to make everyday tasks difficult and so I thought I would just face the embarrassment of being told it was my weight causing the problem and made an appointment.  After a quick urine test, which showed nothing was wrong, I was sent away however this it turns out was just the start of a year of various visits to the doctors with right side problems none of which was ever explained.

In December of that year I was signed off work with right side back pain, then I was back again before the end of the month for painkillers and the doctor I saw then said if it was still sore in January then further tests should be done.  January arrived with sickness and swollen glands, followed by general tiredness and an uncomfortable/painful feeling on my right side.  The right side became more and more painful and even my right leg got in on the act.  In May as part of routine tests for my bipolar medication my results showed that I was slightly anaemic and  eventually I had a gallbladder scan about 6 weeks which showed no stones but slight swelling elsewhere.  I have been tired and sick and sore for a very long time but was still working 4 jobs and doing ok.

Then on the 27th of this month I was at work when my right hand started to hurt.  As the night wore on it became  worse and worse to the point that I could hardly put my gloves on and as for bending it that was a no no.  On Monday I went to the doctors, again, and was put on oral antibiotics and after the locum doctor read over my notes she gave me another blood test and that shall we say is that… the start of this wonderful journey I now find myself upon.