Cycle 6, Day 17 (scan results)
Quick, informative update as I need to rush to the Tate Modern to try to understand what the hell modern art is all about.
I saw the oncologist yesterday and received scan results
from Monday. Miraculously the chemo is still having an effect – the main tumour
has shrunk to 9.6cm (at the start it was around 16cm, last report was 12cm). The
report only gave me one axis this time which was quite bizarre but there we go.
Then lung secondaries still seem to have disappeared, and there is no new growth
anywhere else. Dr Ross seems very happy to go ahead with surgery and suggested
the start of January. So, no more chemo for now, thank God. Hopefully the
fatigue will start to lift.
I learned that Dr O’Brien, the heavily recommended kidney
surgeon, is on jury service for the first half of January. But I rushed around
to get an appointment with him anyway just in case. In his alpha-male-surgeon (picture
Tod from scrubs but as an English gentleman) way he completely ruled out the
first half of January anyway as I need to build up my ‘reserves’ pre-surgery so
I’m not fragile (apparently about 1-2% chance of death, but this is skewed as
its normally older, more fragile people). This means putting on weight (protein
and fat) and getting my lungs and heart used to exercise again before surgery
so I can cope with it. Back to the gym for me! Therefore, it looks like surgery
will be the second half of January. He ended the meeting by saying I looked “better
than he ever could have imagined” from when we first met in May. I can only
take this as a huge positive!
I have an appointment with the (heavily recommended) liver
surgeon next Tuesday after an MRI of my liver so I can ask more questions then
about what surgery will entail- they might need to give me a liver graft which doesn’t sound fun. My
understanding is that it will probably involve removing my adrenal gland,
gallbladder (“surgeons can do this in about 5 minutes’”), and then its unknown
how much of my liver and kidney I will keep. It is a serious operation. Basically,
they won’t really know the situation until I’m opened up. It’s open surgery
that involves at least two surgeons and lasts several hours. I believe I’m in very
good hands though. Recovery (if it is successful) should be about 2 days in
intensive care, followed by a week in hospital where I’m dosed up on
painkillers. Then about 6-8 weeks recovery at home with a massive scar to show
for my efforts.
Then I will have a scan to see how I’m looking. If all has
gone to plan, I will be cancer free for now, although stage 4 means its likely
to come back. I will slowly reintegrate back into normal life and start
working, probably not a 5-day week at first but hopefully back to that. I will
have (at a minimum) 3 monthly scans as a check-up and continue to take mitotane
and all the hormones it replaces, but other than that I should be able to lead a
pretty normal life, although I imagine I will be a bit more laid back than I used to be. The prognosis still isn’t good but it's a hell of a lot better
than it was 6 months ago and if the cancer returns, they have options for how to
handle it depending on where it is such as chemo, surgery, radiation therapy etc.
I feel, at the moment, that the last 6 months have been
worth it. Whilst gruelling, I’ve spent a lot of time with family and friends
and had a lot of fun. I’ve also just received a letter from DWP telling me that
I have a Christmas bonus of £10 which is just swell.
Please try and put any questions you have in this article so I can
answer them for everyone and not have to answer a hundred messages as it's gruelling to answer them all individually and I have cancer. :)
The Tate Modern |
That £10 bonus is £10 more than I got...get us a beer?
ReplyDeleteAre you allowed to take pictures inside the Tate?
ReplyDelete