The Health

Apart from the Colitis I have been feeling well, but things started to feel a bit weird mid month. On 20 November I spat up some blood which caused me concern and then on 26 November my surgeon confirmed there was something unusual.

As a result of this my PET scan was bought forward to the 27th and he scheduled me for a operation (Microlaryngoscopy + Biopsy + Laser) on 2 December.

The PET scan results were good and confirmed that the issue was at a superficial point. I won’t know the full extent of the issue until I get the complete biopsy results on the 11th, which I’ll review with my surgeon and oncology team.

On the good side the Colitis is under control at the moment and I should be clear to restart Immunotherapy if that is decided to be the best cause of next action.

In the meantime I am at home recovering which is taking longer than I would have hoped but I was probably pretty optimistic to start with on how long that would take.

The Personal

The month kicked off with a trip to New Zealand to see Nathan Haines in concert. I’ve always been a fan, and with my new renewed passion for jazz, I’ve been listening to his album “Notes” a lot. I didn’t know until I was in NZ that he actually had the same cancer I did, and some of his songs that really spoke to me were written from his own experience. It’s funny how things work out.

Besides the concert, I had a great time catching up with friends, going on long walks, and even setting off some fireworks on Guy Fawkes Night.

Family-wise, with the end of the year being so busy and not many all-ages events, we stayed close to home. We had friends over for dinner and visited others. The kids are super excited for Christmas, which feels like it’s coming faster than ever.

On the weekly adventures front, had some amazing experiences, the highlights that well exceeded expectations were Sarah Blasko and Pearl Jam. Sarah especially demonstrated the power of seeing someone live instead of just listening over speakers.

I also managed to fit in some comedy with Will Anderson and Adam Spencer at the Factory Theatre and ShapeShifters at the Steyne in Manly (for the record Steyne is a horrible venue for a DJ)

I’ll do another update again once I know more about the latest health scare.