Austin Birks
Sep Sis For A Game Of Soldiers
I very nearly died in the early hours of Tuesday 20th August 2024. I got sepsis; it was swift, frightening, aggressive, relentless,...
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Austin Birks
- Aug 26
- 4 min
I Said A Hip Hop, I Need An Op
I had the good fortune recently to visit the orthopaedic hospital in Birmingham, having been on a waiting list for 43 weeks, and now at...
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Austin Birks
- Jul 8
- 4 min
Would You Rather Have Cancer Or Apply For An Electronic Signature?
Now I do not know about you, my dear reader chum, but I am finding that as I get older, it is the small things in life that cause the...
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Austin Birks
- Mar 29
- 1 min
Press Release - Black belt in karate is kicking cancer with over 100 doses of chemo
A press release about my journey with cancer has recently been published by the South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust. You...
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Austin Birks
- Mar 19
- 4 min
Trouble and strife with the strawberry tart
In my adolescent years, I had a mate of mine called Eamonn Martin. One of the things that we used to do was make up our own version of...
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Austin Birks
- Jan 29
- 5 min
Head, Heart Beat, Knees, and Toes
I was talking to a friend of mine today, and he asked me how I was. I had not seen him since before Christmas, so when he asked me, I...
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Austin Birks
- Dec 20, 2023
- 3 min
Treatment Number 100 Of Chemotherapy
The Bard himself famously said that life is but a stage, and we are all but players on the stage. Well, the older that I get, the more...
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Austin Birks
- Dec 19, 2023
- 5 min
Bag for Life This Year So Far
Well, as I meander closer to my 99th dose of chemo the week after next and then the big one on December 20th, where I hit the big...
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Austin Birks
- Jul 25, 2023
- 6 min
Reflections On Chemotherapy Dose 90, Small Scratch....
As my good friend Noah, the nurse, delicately uttered the magic words "slight scratch," he seamlessly inserted the needle into the vein,...
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Austin Birks
- Jun 10, 2023
- 3 min
Two Fat Ladies Click Click Click, Dose 88 of Chemotherapy
I used to enjoy playing Bingo once upon a time in this strange and wonderful world that I have lived in for 63 years. It was a different...
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Austin Birks
- Mar 13, 2023
- 6 min
The Dark Side Of Chemotherapy
Over the course of my 4 years and 6 months of living with cancer, a lot of kind people have said to me: “So, if you don't mind me asking,...
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Austin Birks
- Feb 11, 2023
- 4 min
Dose Number 82 Of Chemo, And 3 Broken Ribs… And A Partridge In A Pear Tree
And so it came to pass, my dear chums, that yesterday I had my 82nd dose of chemotherapy and what a strange case it was. Basically, 4...
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Austin Birks
- Jan 7, 2023
- 6 min
Review of 2022 - In Short: No, Thank You… Things Can Only Get Better
One of the benefits of being a rather sad, old, English gentleman like myself, is the fact that even though technology allows us to have...
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Austin Birks
- Dec 18, 2022
- 4 min
The Joy Of Meeting New People In Hospital
Forrest Gump famously said “Life is like a box of chocolates.” Now, I honestly have absolutely no idea what that means, but I always...
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Austin Birks
- Dec 12, 2022
- 4 min
Heart Attack - The Experience Itself, And I flogged A Book!
Now, I do not know about you my dear chum, but I never thought that I would experience a heart attack as part of my life and times. Maybe...
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Austin Birks
- Nov 10, 2022
- 7 min
Cancer And The Snakes And Ladders Conundrum, Or Shake Rattle And Roll!
When I first started writing these blogs back in late 2018, I had absolutely what was going to happen, or indeed what I was going to...
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Austin Birks
- Sep 13, 2022
- 5 min
Blood Clot MAAANNN......Rastafari
When I was a young punk, living in Birmingham in 1977, I would regularly go to gigs in the city centre. Watching the likes of The Clash...
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Austin Birks
- Sep 12, 2022
- 4 min
Chemotherapy Treatment Number 70, Reflections On A Life Well Lived
So, today my dear chums was on reflection a landmark day, I do not know if achieving 70 doses of chemo is a lot, or a little, and if...
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Austin Birks
- Aug 20, 2022
- 7 min
From The Top Of My Head To The Tips Of My Toes... Nobody Knows Where The Cancer Goes. Part 3:Bottoms
When I set off on this little journey to explore what the side effects of the chemotherapy actually do to you physically, across, well,...
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Austin Birks
- Jul 30, 2022
- 6 min
From The Top Of My Head To The Tips Of My Toes…Who Knows Where The Cancer Grows… Part 2
Following on from the first part of my journey exploring what the side effects of chemotherapy are and what they are actually like. I...
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