Chapter 12 - a welcome break between cycles 4 and 5
Today I went to the clinic for my pre-infusion check-up and to my delight my symptoms [exhaustion] have been bad enough that, again, I get to have a one-week delay and indeed more than one week off from chemo drugs. Hurray!
Other cancer news... I had a second CT scan during cycle 3, and heard the results today. The purpose of the CT scan was to try to measure the progress of the cancer. Some people have cancers markers that can be measured weekly (e.g. the concentration of something in the blood), but I was told in the first couple of months that I don't have any markers, and the cancer didn't really show up at all on the first CT scan, so there was little expectation that the second CT scan would give much information. However, three things did show up:
a) the elasticity of the stomach has changed; in scan 1, the stomach didn't distend when I drank the obligatory 4 glasses of water; in scan 2 it distended much more. This is deemed a promising sign of the chemotherapy working as intended.
b) the lymph nodes that showed up enlarged in scan 1 are a bit smaller in scan 2.
c) there is a new secondary in a vertebra in my spine.
So, a 2-1 score, overall.
Other non-cancer news... We were privileged to have two memorable movie-nights-out: Last night we went to London for the UK premiere of HUMAN, the awesome new film by Yann Arthur-Bertrand [a big thank-you to Nanny for baby-sitting all day!]; and a couple of weeks ago a local Cambridge start-up [FeatureSpace] invited us to the Cambridge premiere of Spectre. Fun!
Today I went to the clinic for my pre-infusion check-up and to my delight my symptoms [exhaustion] have been bad enough that, again, I get to have a one-week delay and indeed more than one week off from chemo drugs. Hurray!
Other cancer news... I had a second CT scan during cycle 3, and heard the results today. The purpose of the CT scan was to try to measure the progress of the cancer. Some people have cancers markers that can be measured weekly (e.g. the concentration of something in the blood), but I was told in the first couple of months that I don't have any markers, and the cancer didn't really show up at all on the first CT scan, so there was little expectation that the second CT scan would give much information. However, three things did show up:
a) the elasticity of the stomach has changed; in scan 1, the stomach didn't distend when I drank the obligatory 4 glasses of water; in scan 2 it distended much more. This is deemed a promising sign of the chemotherapy working as intended.
b) the lymph nodes that showed up enlarged in scan 1 are a bit smaller in scan 2.
c) there is a new secondary in a vertebra in my spine.
So, a 2-1 score, overall.
Other non-cancer news... We were privileged to have two memorable movie-nights-out: Last night we went to London for the UK premiere of HUMAN, the awesome new film by Yann Arthur-Bertrand [a big thank-you to Nanny for baby-sitting all day!]; and a couple of weeks ago a local Cambridge start-up [FeatureSpace] invited us to the Cambridge premiere of Spectre. Fun!
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1 comment:
Hi David,
I just found out about your cancer from Wikipedia of all places, as I was trying to find out what you were upto now. "I hope he's working on something amazing todo with sustainable living" I thought to myself. Alas. The world can be such a bizarrely tragic place.
Your without the hot air book was and is a light in the dark cutting through ignorance. Thank you for producing it and sharing it with the world. I really enjoyed reading it.
I can see that you've been posting quite a lot of detail about your cancer, but I'm not quite sure what level of interaction you would feel comfortable with from people like me who are commenting.
I don't really know you personally. We met once, and I've read your book, and in that sense I feel a connection to you. I feel a connection to the values you expressed through your book.
Those values, that desire to help, to make things better. Are a beautiful expression of love.
What you have done in your life has created meaning for others. You have created meaning for me.
I guess what I want to say, is that your outward actions have inspired love in others, and now I'll stop being a coward and just say what I really mean: I love you man :)
Wishing you peace
Ashley
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