Bile Duct Diary XVIII

8 April, 2009


Well, life certainly isn’t designed for certainty. Today I got the results of the scans that were done earlier in the week to determine the effectiveness of the recent Reovirus drug trial. There has been a small progression of the cancer on the spine when compared to the scan done in February, but there is no sign of cancer growth in the abdominal area where there was pain previously. This means the medical team want to discontinue the drug trial and try a new one. They have a couple of others up their sleeve, based on different biochemical interventions, that they will consider over the next few days before they decide and make me a specific proposal. They think future trials will be less intrusive and demanding of time, because they don’t require such careful monitoring on behalf of the trial procedures. I told them I am still keen to go into a trial, since I will follow the gleam of hope wherever it appears and I am also feeling fairly healthy and strong.

I am disappointed, but my body has been telling me for a while that there is still considerable back pain and it would be unlikely the cancer had stopped completely, so I wasn’t expecting the results to be much different. The encouraging bit of course is that there are more trials available and my McMillan nurse said today that some of her patients can go on for years with bone cancer that remains localised. So now I have a few weeks of reprieve from the Royal Marsden and the damned journey to Sutton, and a few weeks without drug trials to work out the best possible combination of pain medication to keep the back pain under control. This is important, as it makes all the difference to what I am able to do at work and how I am able to relax and enjoy the other hours in the day.

So upcoming attractions are: a new trial, the gory details of which I will share with you when the time comes; a new understanding, even ‘dialogical’ relationship with Morphine; a festschrift about my work that my amazing Tavistock colleagues are arranging for me on 1st May; Jesse and Zeyana’s wedding party on June 13th; and a possible summer trip to the Campbell cottage in Michigan in August……so…..watch this space!!

Thanks again to you for all your love and support.

David (and Jane)