The Big C Festival, Lead Limbs and the Really Big Ouch

It’s been a few weeks since my last chemo now. It’s very frustrating as my body just doesn’t work like it used to. I suppose that’s not surprising given the dose of toxins it has been given and the lack of activity that it has been doing. But it’s very annoying, my limbs feel like lead. They just don’t do what I want them to do. I walked around baggy point the other morning and it felt like I had a lead weight round my ankles. I get very tired and have been in bed by about 8pm most nights. It’s a weird feeling as I feel like I should be getting much better quicker but I guess I just need to be patient. It’s hard though!!

So I’ve got my operation soon. They are going to take away all the left breast tissue and most of the lymph nodes and hopefully any trace of the naughty cancer. The analysis of this will show how effective the chemo has been which is what I’m interested in. I want to make sure the four months of treatment have been worth while. I am going to have a mastectomy followed by an immediate reconstruction. This means that they are going to use the Lat Dorsi muscle from my back, bring it round under my arm, maintaining the blood supply and build a new boob. How amazing is that? I am going to wake up with a new boob. It’s going to be a pretty big ouch but it will be worth it. The op takes about 7 hours and I’ll be in hospital for a week afterwards under close observation to ensure that the back tissue is happy in its new home in the boob. The first 48 hours are crucial and I will have a warm device hugging me called a bear hugger to ensure the tissue is warm and cosy, sounds nice! I’ll be on morphine by then so I’m sure I won’t be too bothered!! 

As those of you who know me will know, I have a slight problem with my zebra print obsession. It’s relentless. There’s zebra print everywhere with me. My phone, my wallet, my headscarves, leggings, hats etc etc. So it therefore seemed obvious that my race for life team kit was zebra print. I’m so excited about taking part. I think it is going to be very emotional. What an amazing event for such a fantastic cause. There are now 30 of us in my team consisting of my wonderful family and friends. If you are taking part and see any zebra print on the day that will be us!!

Blakey's lovely mane

Another fantastic cause is the Chemotherapy appeal for a new unit up at North Devon District hospital. The unit does such amazing work. I have been so lucky to be treated by the brilliant nurses up at the hospital; they have been wonderful throughout my chemo treatment. They do amazingly but the accommodation they are currently in is small and they really need the new unit. My friends and I are organizing a charity fund raising day on Sunday 15^th July (check out Christian's fab poster above!) in order to help raise the 2.2 million that is needed for the unit. My awesome friend Andrew Blake is going to shave his head and has already raised over £500 in sponsorship. We hope to be able to donate his hair to a charity that provides wigs for cancer patients. If you would like to sponsor him you can do so here: https://www.justgiving.com/thebigcfundraiser. In the morning Andrew is arranging an adventure race that involves teams of three cycling, swimming and running a course that covers Braunton, Woolacombe and Croyde. Andrew runs Bay Fitness and you can contact him on 07583 330239 to find out further details and to take part, it costs £10 per person. We are then holding the Big C Festival at the White Lion in Braunton from 12noon until late that will involve kids’ activities, BBQ, live acoustic music by day, local bands by night and a charity raffle/auction. It costs £5 on entry and all proceeds from the day go to the Chemo appeal. My amazing best friends Sophie and Katie Kerslake will be singing at the Big C, for a taster of their music they are playing at Lilicos on Thursday 5^th July from 9pm. Thanks so much to everyone for their help in organising the festival, especially you Christian!

You can sponsor my team at Race for Life on the following link http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/team-chitch, thanks so much to everyone who has already been so generous.

You can also follow me on twitter @chitchelmaryt.