Promising Outlook
Just thought I'd update you on my progress.
I was discharged from hospital for the fourth time on Friday afternoon, having been re-admitted for severe small bowel pain and nausea (couldn't even keep water down), and this time I hope and pray they have finally found the cause and sorted it. Yesterday was my first pain free day since this whole sorry affair began in March and I slept the whole night without any sudden starts due to turning over and causing tumour compressions.
I am now on (only !!) nine various drugs to alleviate pain, bowel convulsions, nausea, constipation, diarrhoea and fatigue. But they are all temporary, some until the post operation scars heal, some until the end of the chemo, some for longer, perhaps years or even life. but Hey Ho, the operative word in this situation is life. And none of them affect me work wise if I have to keep taking them.
I had the fourth full chemotherapy cycle on Thursday and on Friday was confronted with a bunch of very happy consultant surgeons, haematologists and nurses who told me that I was being discharged. I have a number of bowel dilations caused by back pressure from the previous blockages, the small bowel is less inflamed but still healing and may take months, years or never return to its normal size, but the primary tumour is either so small it was hidden from the CT scanner by intestinal overlay or is too small to see. In all absolutely splendid news. The other lesser tumours were all undetectable.
So after another four cycles it is a good bet that remission will be the order of the day and I'll be back on that bar stool (or more realistically in my case the plastic chair by the pool) sooner than I thought. One troubling issue is that my sons took me to the local and I tried a half of bitter just before I went back into hospital; couldn't drink it as I didn't like the taste ! Is it worth continuing this treatment if I'm going to end up teetotal ?! Your thoughts please.............
During the week I was visited in hospital by a very nice lady from Redhill HR who had made the effort to drive all the way up just to see how I was getting on and pass on best wishes and encouragement from herself and my bosses in Lagos. I emphasise that these were personal messages, not the stock text book stuff. Unless you've been in this sort of situation it is hard to express the lift a visit gives, and such messages, especially from people who have very big fish to fry, mean an awful lot.
I have had literally hundreds of communications, mails, texts, calls and visits and it is impossible to quantify the positive effect these have had and are still having. People who are well don't wake up full of sweetness and light every day of their lives, so I reckon I'm entitled to have the odd "down" day, but when I get a mail or a call it lifts me up again if I'm feeling discouraged.
Once again I thank those who have done this from the bottom of my heart, especially those who have hundreds of people to think about, but still spare a thought for one small cog in the machine.
All in all, barring some unforeseen obstacle, all I have to to is endure four more chemotherapy cycles, build myself up a bit (well, lot actually) and get on the plane back to work.
One thing I have learnt among many other life lessons is that although there is no loyalty on the corporate or commercial fronts, there is still human loyalty. People have jobs to do but they are still human beings with human feelings. This was demonstrated to me in practical terms last week. Maybe we should sometimes look at both sides instead of always taking the cynical approach to everything our bosses do ? Just a thought.
Be safe guys and gals, I'll see you soon.
NEO