Paul's Health Updates

Its been a while since I posted, sorry, the reality is there is not much to report.

Last week was treatment 12, and it was uneventful (just the way I like it). While round 10 being the first treatment post surgery had possibly the biggest impact in terms of fatigue of treatments to date, it remained managable and minor in the scheme of things. Rounds 11 & 12 have settled into a familiar pattern and the levels of fatigue returned to “normal”.

All going to plan I will have another treatment next week (25th) before having a scan to assess response followed by a short treatment break.

I remain exceeding greatful for the support and prayers of so many and for both the reaction (or lack of it) and response I have experienced to treatment to date.

A week back into Chemo after a lengthy break for surgery. Remembering what its like after the time off. Everything has been largely as expected based on previous experience.

My iron levels were low so I had an iron infusion last Friday to address that, hopefully it assists with energy levels.

Plan is for another 3 rounds and then a short break for a holiday in early July.

The tumour and Lymph nodes that were removed during surgery were sent to the lab for analysis and the results are in.

The tumour from the bowel showed the cancer was contained in the bowel wall and showed evidence of good response to treatment with scar tissue where cancer cells would have been.

They assessed 23 lymph nodes and there were no signs of cancer in them. They cannot be sure as to whether or not there was never any cancer in the lymph nodes or the Chemo has cleared it all up. Either way no cancer in the lymph nodes is encouraging.

Back into Chemo next week (14th) to continue to treat the tumours in the liver.

2 weeks post surgery recovery continues to progress well with no ongoing issues or complications. Energy levels are slowly increasing.

My Oncologist is also happy with progress, and all going well I will resume Chemo on 14 May to continue to deal to the liver tumours. The scan I had early April showed continued shrinking of tumours so while treatment remains effective I intend to continue with the Chemo program.

They say slow and steady wins the race … slow and steady is not something that comes naturally but looks like thats the way recovery will progress. Today is a week since surgery and things get incrementally better each day. Celebrated the 1 week anniversary with a trip out for a coffee this morning.

Pain and movement etc get better each day, the biggest issue has been sleep, with the wound sites healing sleeping on my back is pretty much the only option and its not one that works well for me.

Continuing to work on reducing/optimising the pain relief and getting a balance between rest and movement to ensure fast and proper healing will remain the priorities in the coming days but everything seems to be well on track.