Where to begin

My name is David.

Why have I set up this blog ?
Unfortunately I am terminally ill with a rare form of abdominal cancer called Pseudomyxoma Peritonei. The purpose of this blog is to provide some form of regularish update as to my condition, i.e. how I am feeling on a day to day basis. It will be updated as an when I feel up to it and have something to say.

How did it all start for me ? (A quick history)
I first noticed something was wrong and went to my doctor in about June 2005. After a variety of ever more invassive tests in hospital, I was eventually diagnosed to have PMP (Pseudomyxoma Peritonei) in August 2005.

I went to the North Hampshire hospital in Basingstoke in September 2005 for my MOAS (Mother Of All Surgeries) operation, as it is known by fellow sufferers and was there about a month. Unfortunately they were unable to remove all of the tumour tissue so it has been a waiting game since then to see how long I have.

After Basingstoke I was transferred to the care of The Royal Marsden Hospital in London where I have, until recently, been receiving care and treatment. I have undergone several different types of chemotherapy while at the Marsden, but to no avail. At most the chemotherapy would slow to a crawl the progress of the disease. It was never able to reduce the amount of the disease that I have.

Finally, last October 2007, the disease took off in a fairly vigorous fashion and the Marsden said that there was nothing more that they could do to help me. They also, when pressed, said that I probably only had a matter of weeks left to live. They then initiated the processes to transfer my care over to that of my local palliative care team and my local St. Francis Hospice.

So since last November I have been under their care and have decided to set up this blog to allow both myself and my wife to provide a reasonably current update to my condition for anyone who is interested to read.

Well there we are, my first ever blog post. It hasn't been as painful as I expected it would be. Much better than trying to extract teeth. Let's see if I can post this now.