I’m Home! and a bit about Hospice & Marathon’s…
Thank you everyone for your texts and emails and general messages of support. I’m finally home! In 11.5 minutes I can take down my holter monitor and SHOWER. The excitement overwhelms me! …I requested that I came home with one cannula still in tact. That way I won’t have to go through it all again tomorrow - if it decides to give blood of course.
For now, I enjoy peaceful times. At last. I did it again and feel a great sense of achievement for my efforts.
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Shortly after my diagnosis in 2010, I was put in contact with my local hospice, the Phyllis Tuckwell. Most people have heard of a Macmillan nurse before - Macmillan are there to offer support and nursing for cancer patients. The hospice is a bit different, but my clinical nurse specialist there is my equivalent of a Macmillan nurse, and she’s a wonderful soul if I do say so myself!
Most people associate the word ‘hospice’ with death. I’ll be honest and say, I myself, never have. It’s so much more than that…The support that I’ve been given over the last 2 years has been invaluable. There are so many patients out there that turn down hospice support in fear that it’s the end of the road…and it’s not always the case. Not only have I benefited from help & guidance/therapies from my nurse, counsellor, complimentary therapist and physio…but so have my family. In two years the hospice has been my ray of sunshine in my week, giving me the tools and coping strategies I need to deal with treatment regimes, surgeries and unfortunately now, life with a terminal illness. Not once have my visits to the hospice made me dwell on my status as a dying person. So I’d say these people are pretty damn special at what they do!
That leads me on nicely to plug my friend Lucy Pochin’s fundraising page for her marathon run! It’s in Brighton, in April, and she’s running to raise money for a place that is very special to me, and to all the other patients it looks after - at home and at the hospice itself. If you feel you would like to donate, please click here.
Remember, the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice is only 12% government funded, meaning they need to fund raise over £15,000 a day to offer such an exceptional standard of clinical care and support. They are very much reliant on public generosity and fundraising such as Lucy’s efforts to run a marathon. So many of my friends raised money for them last year, and I’m so very grateful for the continuation of support!
Thanks for listening! and perhaps my outlook on hospice care has helped another patient somewhere? hope so!
