Update: March 2023

22 March

 

Hi - a quick note to update everyone: I've just heard that I'm going for my next CT scan tomorrow morning at 9:30, as a cancellation has suddenly come up. This is in line with what my two doctors agreed (when they eventually got to speak, last week!) - an earlier-than-usual scan to see whether the nodes in my spleen are static or growing (and whether there's anything else new), before we can all decide on the next phase of treatment for me.

 

Garth is on leave this week, so the full discussion of the results will only take place next week. I'll let you know more, as soon as I know.

 

Good vibes are welcome, always!

 

Lots of love 🌹❤️

24 March

Hi everyone - well, this is not so fun. There's no easy way to hear, or to tell, the news that lymph nodes in various parts of one's body are now lighting up the CT scan images. In fact, I was the one who noticed the sudden swellings in my neck on Tuesday, and requested the earliest possible next scan; all the while hoping and praying that it was "just" something like glandular fever that was causing both that and general unwellness and feverishness for most of the past month. This particular wish was not granted. And the nodes in my spleen have grown.

 

No longer can I say that I don't feel a thing, although I hope that there will be some more of that, in between experiences such as this one.

 

It was David Nye who verbally gave me a summary of the scan report yesterday afternoon (I'll be seeing Garth Davids on Monday), and we decided that, regardless of whatever changes Garth makes to my medication, I will also restart the Vitamin C infusions - urgently (they do seem to boost me, and it was after an intensive course of them that I felt so particularly well over the summer). I also still use Iscador and take all sorts of supplements.

 

I tend not to ask questions like "How long have I got?" - because nobody owns a crystal ball, and I also don't like creating self-fulfilling prophesies. I know that some people rally very well - some of them many times - and others don't at all. I'd like to be one of the former, but I also don't live in cloud cuckoo-land.

 

My deep appreciation to Gail, who has had to go through all of this with me, and has listened to all sorts of musings along the way - while having many of her own.

 

This kind of experience really does sharpen one's approach to things. I become more and more convinced that only one thing is important: it's LOVE.

 

And much love and big thanks to all of you. 🌹❤️

27 March

Thank you, everyone, for all the care and love. It's a huge help to me!

 

I did indeed see Garth today (and David, before that, for the first in a series of Vitamin C infusions). Garth has referred me for a lymph node biopsy before the end of the week, so that we can see whether this is a continuation of what started in 2017, or whether the lymph nodes represent some sort of parallel cancer. On the basis of that, we'll decide on the next steps for my treatment plan. I'm glad to be having a biopsy, because it will bring much more understanding about what is happening.

 

More news soon, and much love 🌹❤️

 

(Photo: my little helpers when resting in bed, Layla and Neria)