And what better way to spend it than at The Mount Vernon Cancer Centre, the East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust specialised cancer centre. It takes ages to get there, and as I’m not sleeping well at night, I use the opportunity to catch up on some zzzzz’s. I feel bad about this as Ross is also sleeping badly, but he’s the one who can drive so he gets the short straw.

Once we’ve registered for our appointment, and filled in the relevant paperwork we wait to see the consultant to discuss the next phase of treatment. Except today we don’t see my consultant. We see someone else. This isn’t a problem at all, he’s an expert in Cyberknife. He knows what he’s talking about and answers our questions thoroughly. He talks more to Ross than me, as I appear to be on another planet, and I’m not really taking things in. This is why having Ross with me at these appointments is so important. Goodness knows what I’d bring out from the meetings…

The Cyberknife technology is extremely accurate. They are only interested in frying the bad cells. We get shown where the treatment is going to be done, what the machine looks like, and it’s explained that during the sessions, a CT scanner will be constantly used, and the rays adjusted to ensure maximum damage to the cancer, minimal damage to me and my important nerves. Each treatment will last about an hour, there will be one session a day and I will have 3 sessions. My first session is in Tuesday, 9th February, and I will be finished on Thursday 11th. I’m grateful that these sessions only take days, not weeks, like the radiotherapy for breast cancer.

Jx