Blog 177 Monday 21st October 2013

From the beginning of last week It is my daughters school half term holiday break, her school is on half term break sooner than most others, because her schools summer break is two weeks shorter and re-convenes half way through August unlike most. It is a time that I try and get her out doing things. As we didn't have a holiday away this year due to my operations I booked lastminute.com Wendy got a few days off,  so we headed South to Portugal  for blue skies and sunshine. Albefuira to be exact "Travel Insurance" I hear you say....... "yes very important"...................only nobody would insure me.

As long as you mention "Cancer" on any quotation or proposal the insurance company's do not want to know...........I'm not talking they won't insure for pre-existing conditions....oh no they won't insure at all!!!!!........................for anything ..............not even a .........................airplane delay or the usual holiday mishap ..

I'm sure other cancer sufferers and survivors have been in the same situation and did exactly what I did and trolled through the various cancer forums ........some very helpful information, but unless its very up to date the good information that was, has been changed or no longer exists.  Ha ha I checked through my existing house insurance and found it covers annually for up to 60 days away from our shores and covers all the normal holiday stuff delays to airplane cancellation due to emergency's loss of cameras etc etc

Pre - existing conditions are not covered ...............but I wouldn't expect it to be or did I want it to be ..................so to anyone else out there who suddenly finds out the harsh reality of being uninsurable for holiday bookings / flights etc you may well be already insured and didn't know it. Check your house insurance. For a £35 excess, I'm totally covered for my holiday ...............................well not totally, I'm not covered for Cancer...............??          

Blog 176 Monday 7th October 2013

The Thoracic Laminectomy I had in July this year to remove, what was believed to be a tumour on my spinal cord, in fact turned out to be a large benign cyst. The cyst was pressing on my spinal cord and giving all sorts of problems with my legs, ie  (numbness from my knees to my hips, severe cramping and severe sciatica type pain across my buttocks and into my legs.) Due to my previous encounters with Bowel Cancer it was decided to investigate further and resulted in a complex operation called a Thoracic Laminectomy where parts of  the spine are removed to get to the problem. This operation was and still is incredibly painful.

As usual with most invasive surgery I now have complete numbness across my middle back, which just adds to the numbness of my sides following the double lung surgery last year. The pain I am currently experiencing is due to the surgery on the Spinous process and muscles to get to the Cyst and after all the surgery it was discussed that this had nothing to do with my bowel cancer. I continue to be scanned and have regular blood tests. In order to eleviate the pain and give my back some support, Wendy trolled through the Internet to find a suitable back brace. A useful back brace was found and does give some relief whilst walking and standing for any length of time. This brace was discovered and sent from China but beware the Chinese XXL or double extra large is not quite what you expect !!!


Anatomy of the spine  Go !!