Ian’s Story

Ian began his chemotherapy treatment for renal cancer and a secondary neck tumour at which point he also received a letter for an outpatient’s appointment with a hospice consultant. 

With his consultant, Ian began to find ways to overcome the problems facing him. He was prescribed medication which helped with the down sides he experienced with the chemotherapy. The visits really helped him and his wife cope as their life had been on hold as they tried to deal with the impact and the treatment of the disease.

When he started listening to what he was being told, he realised the severity of his condition but also how the hospice could actually help him. They looked at his situation holistically and offered advice and care for both of them.

Ian’s consultant also suggested complementary therapies without which he doesn’t think he’d be controlling his pain management. Ian explores and experiences reflexology, physiotherapy and mindfulness.

Through these ongoing outpatient appointments, he has space and time to talk; be listened to and really focus on what can work for him. Ian likes that his appointments keep it all joined together and look beyond the specific details of his cancer and its treatments. He’s offered ideas, choices and guidance which he wouldn’t otherwise have thought of.

Ian said “I find that I can unload anything that is worrying me and openly discuss the reality of my situation. Over time I have stopped looking at trying to ‘get back to the way things were’ and I have accepted ‘the new normality’ of my life to come.”

Ian has become far more confident in himself and he has now started to do many things again, like going abroad for holidays something he and his wife wouldn’t have thought would have been possible.