Wednesday 14th January 2009

Hi All,

Just had a call from my specialist nurse with the results of my CT scan, and they are somewhat familiar - "good news so far, but there's one final check we want to do before we make our minds up for sure!".

So the situation as it stands today is that they are still pursuing a curative strategy, and all the bookings etc for the surgery are going ahead with a view to me having the op around the 17th February (unfortunately this coincides with half-term holiday though, so it may end up being the week before or the week after as some of the surgeons are on vacation).

In the meantime, I have to have an MRI scan on my liver (which will complete my set of possible scan types - CT, PET, MRI) to try and get some more information on this pesky nodule which is still causing the uncertainty (apparently none of the team have seen anything like it before). It is the surgeon who wants me to have the extra scan to "dot the i's and cross the t's" just to be sure that it is not significant.

The positive news is that the CT scan has shown that the chemo has had some positive effect and the tumour appears to have been "de-bulked" a certain amount (I don't know what's wrong with the word "shrunk", but that's medical-speak for you!), so they are pleased with that.

The only negative really (apart from the continued uncertainty) is that I will probably have to keep the PICC line in until after the MRI scan which could be another one or two weeks yet, which prevents me getting back to the gym.

It's a shame this is dragging on so long without a definitive answer, but it is not really worrying me too much, because the outcome is really a Hobson's Choice - I don't really fancy either outcome to be honest, so it doesn't really matter which way it goes!

I am probably being a bit flippant there of course, as a cure is better than living with cancer for the rest of my life (however long that should be), but there is a part of me that would rather spend the rest of my life on chemo (as it was not really a difficult experience) than have the surgery!

I will of course keep you updated as this continues to develop.

I'm still keeping very positive and I definitely see today's news as a good outcome, albeit an incomplete one!

Cheers,

C.