Tuesday, 3 August 2010

I wouldn't normally start my blog early in the morning but yesterday had some surprises waiting just after I had posted it.

First the Macmillan nurse, Melvin called back and I gave him the story so far. He promised to investigate and sure enough, rang back within 20 minutes with his findings. The reason that my next consultation was so far ahead? "You have a bone scan appointment being sent to you for next week, didn't anyone tell you?" He was a really nice guy and tried to re assure me but he didn't know enough about the case to help with any detail. For an hour I was left spinning and when the Urology nurse Gill phoned back, my first reaction was of not wanting to speak to her. Beverley wisely and firmly thrust the phone into my hand. Her call was not related to Melvin's call, she was just returning my call from earlier. She was familiar with my case but had just returned from holiday, so I brought her up to date. She was very surprised that nobody had let me know the result of my MRI scan and said that she could read it to me over the phone if I wished. The seconds between her saying that and me saying "yes please", seemed to go into slow motion, because having been told that I needed a bone scan earlier, did I really want to hear this result? It was a mixture of fear and wanting to vomit along with the strength in my body just flowing away. But the summary of the report concluded that the MRI scan had shown that the cancer still remained inside to capsule of the prostate! So then I wanted to cry and laugh at the same time but still felt like throwing up. Beverley and her sister were there, they were great and it was a very emotional time. The bone scan, as Sasha had researched for me last month was normal before surgery is offered, as they need to know that there are no other underlying problems in the area such as arthritis or any undetected damage from old injuries. So I guess I will have surgery followed by radiotherapy sometime in September or October. With a 70% chance of complete cure first time, and even if I am in the other 30%, further radiotherapy can bring a good result still.

Well now that I knew the full picture I broke the news to my mother last night, she took it fairly well. She tends to wear other peoples worries like a rucksack on her back, so I was waiting until it was a smaller sack before I told her. My brother Paul and sister Cynthia sounded over the moon on the phone, as was my other brother Andre. I had a call from Sasha and texts from Luci, Chantal and Julie, and a nice message from their mum Sue on the blog.

Oh and a BIG welcome to my friend 'Man U Dave' as a follower. He lives up in Inverness but he is from Manchester, so I allow him to call himself a Man U fan! When matches are on the telly we text each other throughout the game with some good banter. He's one of the nicest guys you could ever meet and works with the 'Red Cross', I think! I support Arsenal but also have a soft spot for Liverpool, Colchester and Leeds United.

We had some wine, well, a bit more than 'some', then watched 'The Zohan', which if you haven't seen, is one of the funniest films ever. It's about a top Israeli special agent who goes to New York to become a hairdresser; an unlikely plot but it works!

Today I am having lunch with my friend Nikki in Penrith and then we have lovely Anne coming around for dinner tonight. Should be a really nice day after yesterday, especially now that all my problems are tied up in one little place and not swimming around inside me!

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