Chemo, scan, cloud, silver lining

Just quickly - because I'm not in the right frame of mind for a lengthy message

1. Regular blood test prior to next round of chemo
2. Results not good - cancer markers have increased, so chemo is cancelled. Bad news, good news.
3. Referred for PET scan at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital to see what's going on inside
4. PET scan this morning (Monday)
5. Visit to oncologist this afternoon for results
6. Results not good - tumours have grown slightly and there are some spots on one of my lungs which may be metastases (new secondary tumours)
7. We have run out of options for chemotherapy and I am sticking with my decision not to have surgery
8. Oncologist recommends treatment with the chemotherapy that I had way back in 2006 which did not work on the original tumours in my liver. He says that the tumours I have now are different from the original and there may be a chance that they will respond to the treatment.
9. Start new chemotherapy regime this Friday with an infusion every 3 weeks - but just a 2 hour session at the clinic and no pump to wear home.

And you may wonder why I made reference to a 'silver lining'. They say every cloud has a silver lining. When the blood test showed that the chemo wasn't working and that it would be stopped, it meant that I would be free of it. My son had invited me, for the Mother's Day weekend, to go with him and his girlfriend to visit her parents on their rural property at Cowra NSW. If I had been on chemo, I would not have been up to the trip or to being a congenial visitor in the home of people I had not met before. I was going to be in reasonable shape without the chemo pump - so I accepted the invitation and we all had a wonderful weekend. Great people, beautiful property in a beautiful part of the world - great weekend was had by all :)

Tuesday 10 May 2011 @ 1.25am. It is 5 years ago today since I was diagnosed with cancer.