Saturday, November 29, 2014

Oncology report

I saw my oncologist, Dr McLean, on Thursday. Coinneach came with me. She confirmed that a cure is no longer possible and that any treatment will be palliative, which was just a tad devastating, even though I knew it already. I hoped that something might turn up, so to speak, but no such luck. 

She showed us my lungs on her screen and pointed out some of the infected dell clusters. There are a lot of them, though nobody seems to have been counting. The radiologist report talks about multiple nodules, so I don't suppose an exact count is going to change anything. The biggest cluster was 7 mm in diameter and the smallest was 2 mm. She expects these to grow and eventually be the end of me.

As she has nothing to compare them with, there having been no sign of cancer in my last scan in November 2013, she has decided to hold off on treatment for three months then do another CT scan towards the end of February so she can measure the progress. I will see her in March to decide whether treatment would be appropriate then, or to wait a bit longer to see how it develops. More waiting. More patience required. Not my finest attribute. 

It's very strange seeing my lungs on screen like that, and watching her zoom in and out and picking things out, and casually measuring them. I couldn't get my head round the idea that what was on the screen was also inside my chest, and slowly killing me. Or maybe it won't. 

Dr Mclean was her usual impressive self. Different to Mr Speake in many ways but makes me feel confident in her decisions. Coinneach was impressed with them both, though surprised at Mr Speake's youthfulness.

I will stop now and pop out for a little latte. I've been to see The Imitation Game this week. Excellent movie. Four star at least and Cumberbatch is worthy of an oscar. Defintitely worth a few hours of your time. I don't know if I mentioned Mr Turner in previous posts. Also an excellent movie and another oscar performance from Timothy Spall. Hard to choose between the two but maybe Cumberbatch by a nose. 

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Jeez, Don. I'll be in Scotland at Xmas, so let's catch up for a coffee or something. Meantime, call or mail if you want to chat. L xxx