Well here we are now 6 weeks in to chemo therapy and time for a little review I think. I am just back from a walk around Langness so things can't be going to badly. I feel now just as fit as I did before I knew there was anything wrong.

At the start of chemo, I could hardly walk anywhere without difficulty. Stairs were becoming a problem, doing things around the house like lifting the washing basket and other simply little tasks were difficult to perform. Now life is almost back to normal. I have hardly suffered any side effects from the chemo. I still have some hair, probably about half of it. My appetite is better than ever. In fact I am going to have to go on a diet, even in the middle of chemo. So, what do I put this down to? Who or what gets the credit? How do I bottle this recovery so that others might benefit from the formula? The trouble is there isn't a formula. It maybe that my recovery is just temporary and a decline is just around the corner.

My consultant tells me that he has never known a cancer case whereby, the patient starts to feel better and the cancer gets worse. I am definitely feeling better and I am certain the cancer is disappearing. So, how did I get to where I am? I am not in any shape or form medically qualified to pass any medical advice to anyone. All I can tell you is, what I have done and what I have taken and how I have faired.

Once my cancer had been diagnosed and it had been decided that chemotherapy was the best and most effective treatment I began to take wheat grass capsules. These were introduced to me by my neighbour Miriam. She knew about a friend in Ireland who had managed to fight off cancer 3 times and put it down or a large part of it down to wheat grass. I took the tablets every day along with a Selenium-ace pill which I am told helps you to fend off infection. I am still taken the wheat grass and selenium ace and have done all the way through chemotherapy.

I have been told that diet is very important and plays a big part in having a successful cancer treatment. I was told to make sure I ate plenty of fruit and veg, especially through chemo therapy. I was also told to expect to loose weight whilst undergoing chemo as I would loose my appetite. Well. I have never been all that fond of fruit and veg. I have eaten only token amounts of fruit and hardly any veg. I never liked cabbage, cant stand cauliflower and, I am sure God simply had an off day or just made a mistake when he invented sprouts. So my food intake hasn't changed since I began chemotherapy.

Before chemo I use to drink 5 tins of John Smith's best bitter each night. I have continued drinking 5 tins per night through chemo. I visit the chippie at least twice a week for fish, chips and mushy peas. For breakfast on most days I have bacon, eggs, sausages and fried bread. Not necessarily all at once, but a combination of these things and, probably all of them, or what we call a full breakfast once a week. When I feel peckish, I am much more likely to reach for a mars bar than a banana. The chemo has not affected my appetite one bit. Sometimes my idea of a sandwich would be a tram horse between two Ramsey bakery bread vans. I am heading fast towards 15 stone and I have never been that heavy in my life. I am not suggesting for one minute that the perfect antidote to lung cancer is 5 pints of John Smith's bitter each night, plenty of fish and chips and fry ups, chocolate and stay away from the fruit and veg. All I know is what is. This is what I do and what I eat and this is what has happened to me.

I know that various cancer help groups and agencies from around the world now have links in to this blog. I am certainly not suggesting I have the answers to cancer or advocating my diet to anyone else. We all respond differently and our bodies have different needs and react differently to the various treatments. I suppose most medics, chemists, dieticians and health coaches would run me out of town. All I can say is I would not swap my lifestyle for theirs. I am the very proof of my own pudding, although as I have said my pudding might taste a little bitter to most folk, and my diet most disagreeable.

I am going to have to increase my walks now though, in order to try and get this weight down. So, I am off now for forage along the Silverburn.

Until tomorrow then, Tom Glassey, news at 6.45 a.m on the banks of the Silverburn River.