Bile Duct Diaries XIV

7 September, 2008


Just as I was seeing light at the end of my treatment tunnel, something happened. I was booked for my final 3 chemotherapy sessions and going to see the oncologist for what I expected to be a routine check of blood levels, although I had been feeling quite a bit worse after the previous 5 chemotherapy infusions. The medic said one of my blood tests was abnormally high……..a measure of what he called the ‘tumour markers’ which are a type of blood cell that increases in the presence of cancer tumours. While the normal score is around 100, my level was at 1400, so the final 3 chemotherapy sessions were cancelled. The doctor, young and fairly inexperienced, said it may be the cancer has returned and I was scheduled for an urgent CTscan. I had about 10 days to wait for the scan and the review meeting with the oncologists which took place last Friday (5th Sept.). You can imagine all the thoughts I was entertaining during those 10 days, and not sure how much to share with Jane and the kids and how much to keep to myself.

The results of the scan have given me what I would call a 90% certificate of health, and what felt like a 100% reprieve. There has been no spread of the cancer, and all they detected were two enlarged lymph nodes, but these haven’t changed their size since the previous scan was done last April. The best explanation they could give, a senior consultant this time, was that if my immune system was cumulatively weakened as the chemotherapy went on, I may have acquired an internal infection that raised the activity levels of the tumour markers. Apparently this is not uncommon toward the end of chemotherapy and following a major surgery. What is required now is monitoring with blood tests and another scan in December. All this sounds good to me. I have been feeling much better and fitter since the final chemo session, so I am feeling pretty positive and raring to get back to life as we knew it many months ago.

I feel that I really am out of a tunnel now, and I am ready for some kind of ritual to mark my return to the fold. I have been working off and on for about 6 weeks, and I plan to increase this by the day. The way also seems clear for a week’s holiday in October wherever we can find a bit of sun. And then the big change for me which is retiring from my Tavistock/NHS sessions and doing more of the organisational work as of January.

I do want to thank all of you for such caring support over the past 9 months. The cards and visits and meals………. This meant a lot to Jane as well. I just had to put my head down and get on with things, but she had to watch the painful process knowing there was a limit to what she could do to prevent all the struggles.

So now I am looking forward to seeing all of you face to skinny face and cashing in on my reprieve.

Love,

David (and Jane)