Here We Go. Cancer Update

So, the news is good and bad.  But more good than bad I think.  But then I'm on my 5th martini... You be the judge.

So I have two new "hot spots" on my back.  Yes, they're tumours.  They occur on the 11th and 7th  something or others of my spine but, crucially, they don't intrude yet on my spine.  That is why I'm having the radiotherapy.  As you'll recall from blogs some weeks back I had a series of scans run as a result of pain I'd been experiencing in my back - PET scan, CT scan of my chest and abdomen and a brain scan.

Lets deal first of all with the negative scans: nothing has shown up in my brain.  This is good :-) And indeed I'm sure many of you - particularly those I've worked with - could have predicted they'd find nothing in my brain! But I was worried that there might be something there because my memory seemed to be deteriorating.  But no, it's not a tumour in my brain although my bad memory may be as a result of the chemotherapy (there is a phenomenon known as "chemo brain" - google it if you like - which is anecdotally a loss of memory as a result of chemo undergone: there are no definitive trials on this). So the brain thing is good but don't be surprised if I appear scatterbrained for a while.

The chest and abdomen scans were good too.  There is nothing in my liver, my kidneys, my adrenal gland etc to suggest new tumours. I do appear to be showing a new growth in one of my lymph nodes near my right lung but nothing large enough for us to worry about at the moment.  There is a very small new "hot spot" in my left lung but its so small that it may be cancer or it may just be inflammation, they can't tell. 

So that's some of the good news (there's more to come - see later) but time now for some bad news. There are these two new tumours on my back.  These suggest that the cancer is active and spreading and so will continue to do so.  To be fair this is what everyone has been saying from the start.  It just comes as a bit of a shock - you and me both - on the back of me doing so well seemingly lately. 

The treatment proposed is also a good news story though.  If things were really bad and going pear-shaped e.g. loss of sensation in my lower limbs, then they'd have given me a one-off-mega-blast of radiotherapy to deal with it.  The fact that I will be receiving a first cycle of 5 radiotherapy sessions followed by a break of one week followed by a further session of 5 days radiotherapy is good news and means things aren't so dire that they need to pile in there.  And the outcomes from this graduated response are generally better. I could get up to an extra 5 months of pain free time out of this. I like the sound of that.

And then there's more chemotherapy stuff after that too.  A different chemotherapy this time.  One that involves my hair falling out (we're cruising hat and wig shops as we speak - all suggestions greatly welcomed) but in conjunction with a new trial that everyone is very excited about. Something to do with "anti-PDL" no I've no idea either but it sounds like something to do with performance development.... which may give me extra months too.  Who knows, I may even still be around for the next Midsummer Party or my birthday next year (its 05/09 for those of you who have missed the hints so far).  

So on the whole, and given the parameters, things are looking positive.  I hope you agree. Please don't get too upset - I know it's easy to forget what's going on and then you have to think about it all again - but I'm feeling OK at the moment (and not just because of the alcohol) and that's what is important.  I love the fact that you still follow me on the blog, I love the fact that you all support me and I love the fact that I'm loved.  Thank you.  J x