Yesterday was an ok on the recovery front but great on the news front. I met with the doctor in charge of my Chemo / Radiation and he passed on some potentially good news which should see me in a good position by Christmas. The key points are:

Potential reduction in Cancer Stage

When you have cancer, they define you as being one of 4 stages;

• Stage 1: localised cancer
• Stages 2 and 3: Regional spread
• Stage 4: distant spread
• (More details here)
  

I have been considered to be stage 4 which although having a good prognosis has always been a little distressing as you can imagine. The main reason for having such an advanced stage from my understanding is predominately due to the size of cancer I have.

Now the good news is that given the cancer has only shown in one of my Lymph nodes and that node was on the same size of my cancer they are looking to potentially treat this as a stage 3 cancer. The main result of that will be little to no Chemo. I will still have radiation but no Chemo which means I should save myself a whole lot of hurt while also being able to save my hair!

Now know when I start Radiation Process

I was a little anxious because of how long I have been in the hospital for this second operation it might be some time before I start the next stage of my treatment. It turns out there was nothing to worry about I start the process on 13 October.

My radiation treatment will happen for about 7 weeks. During that time, I will need to come in for treatment 5 days a week for that 7 week period. At the conclusion of which I should be done.

Apart from being tired and sore from the treatment the main negative will be that I won’t be able to taste anything at all for up to 18 months but a small price to pay to live. At the moment, I can’t really eat solids but this gives me the motivation to be able to eat more so I can at least eat some Greek Lamb before not being able to taste anything for some time.

Anyway, think that is enough for today, day 18 and hopefully the final day of this hospital stay.

Till the next time.

Spiros