Facing up to a hol lot of challenges

Ollie and I plan our hike, but sadly the trip was cancelled

While cancer is part of my life every day, most days it’s a small, manageable part that I offset with all the good things we have to enjoy.

However, this week I’ve faced more challenges – some routine, some self-inflicted and one caused by other people.

Making NHS appointments is usually just a part of life. But at the start of the week I had to change one that clashed with a week I had booked in the Lake District with my family.

I planned to take my youngest, Ollie, up his first mountain. A memory forever, I hoped, as you can only climb your first mountain once.

But I hate moving appointments as it’s effectively wasting valuable NHS time for personal reasons.

Another challenge came after I volunteered to assist a pharmaceutical company working on a questionnaire. It will help them make drugs easier to accept mentally for men diagnosed with prostate cancer.

The questions made me mentally cross bridges I was not prepared for – about quantity of life versus quality of life and different degrees of quality. It was quite a battle to get some of those thoughts out of my head.

But then came the real body blow. The firm I’d booked my break with months ago emailed to say it was double booked, the holiday was cancelled and they would refund me shortly.

I tried phoning them but gave up after a couple of hours hanging on the line.

It’s just a holiday, right? Maybe. But I never know if the cancer will stop me having another one. Now I may never take Ollie up his mountain. And I wasted the NHS’s time for nothing.

If you cause an issue for others, I hope you consider what it means for them. I know I do. Until next week,

Kev

Cancer is a part of my life that I can usually offset with the good things I enjoy