Taking up the blogging mantle again.

Hi all some of you will remember my previous blog following my Parkinson's diagnosis in the summer of 2013 and how this fitted in with my role as a full time carer to my daughter who has a learning disability. You were also introduced to Max and Perdy our family Jack Russel's and also Connor our elderly westie who has sadly passed since my previous blog.

We live in Cornwall UK a wonderful place to live but even in such an idyllic setting. the realities of life hit us between the eyes and in my case in 2013 this was my diagnosis of Early Onset Parkinson's Disease. I think Parkinson's is an illness most of us are aware of but until it directly affects us or our family it remains an awareness and we have no real concept of the impact it has on people with Parkinson`s (PWP)  or their immediate and greater family.

My previous blog ran until 2014 when again I received another devastating diagnosis, this time of cancer, and this has had a major impact on my life following major surgery at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth where on November 20th 2014 I underwent a near seven hour operation to remove a satsuma sized tumor and part of my stomach. This surgery is known as a Whipples procedure   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancreaticoduodenectomy. In short this surgery saved my life but after 8 days in hospital I was allowed home to continue my slow recovery.

To bring things up to date I have just finished 6 months chemotherapy which to be fair once we had the correct combination of drugs to control the nausea and sickness I tolerated reasonably well, it was the fatigue a couple of days post chemo that I found  hard to deal with  but that is behind me for now, and following a CT scan this week I am now waiting to see my oncology consultant to see what the scan has revealed.

I guess my blog has two possible interest groups now, other Parkinson's folk and also people who have had similar cancer experiences, not forgetting of course the families who are also on the journey with their loved ones be it Parkinson`s or Cancer.

I hope you enjoy the blog as much as I will enjoy writing it.  The journey is unpredictable and at this time I don`t know the outcomes but thank you for letting me share it with you and I would welcome your feedback/comments via my email borninkernow@outlook.com or on my facebook page https://www.facebook.com/tjkernow

The blog page will develop and change as I add photographs etc and learn how to make it look professional!!

For now please bookmark the blog and I look forward to sharing my journey with you.

Take good care
Tony.