Do you do massage?

For my birthday Paul bought me a voucher for a massage or facial at House of Fraser... oh lovely, I thought, a nice relaxing time whilst I'm on Chemo. Oh lovely, He thought, I've managed to get her a present she hadn't pre-guessed.

However, when I actually went for it it was far from relaxing. They were very welcoming, and gave me a form to fill in with my details, including medical history. Then they told me that they couldn't do the massage until 6 months after the treatment had finished, as it stimulated the lymphatic system.

Now this doesn't make sense. The one thing that is permanent about all this is the potential problem with lymph due to my lymph node removal. And all I was wanting was a facial and hand and head massage. (The only chance I'll get to feel what a head massage is like with no hair!)

They said they would only do it with a letter from the doctor. They did say that I could convert the voucher into products: but then I have newly acquired £200 of products that I will rarely use. Seeing how upset I was, they let me sit in the room with a glass of water, and came back with a bag full of freebies 'so I could have a bit of a pamper at home'.

When I next saw the Oncolgist, I started to tell him about the massage, and he interrupted me and said 'And they wouldn't do it. It's a load of rubbish. Of course you can have a massage' Apparently, what gets bandied about a lot is that the massage will move tiny cancer cells around your body. Which it won't. And there's no problem with the lymph either. So I am now armed with a letter from the doc giving the go ahead.

All I want is a nice relaxing time! Now to book it...