Lottery from God
I just wanted to give an update on my condition at the moment, publically, as many people have moved Heaven and Earth to support me recently.
I have had numerous e-mails from people wishing me well and letting me know that they are there, just in the wings, waiting to help me.
Pm's of a similar nature.
Offers of money, both through the Community, raised by donations and personally from people who have offered to pay my donations that I wished to make to this Community.
General support during my recent time of crisis.
For all of this I am and will ever be eternally grateful. What a great bunch of people you all are. The gents, your hands I shake, the Lassies all get a kiss on the cheek.
A bit of history and an update.
I first developed testicualr teratoma in 1995, with chemotherapy commencing in 1996, followed by a retro-peritoneal lymph node dissection. The cancer and its metasteses were truly massive and had strangled most of my major abdominal organs. Treatment was successful.
I relapsed in July 1999, which was not reported until Jan 2000 and I was required to undergo another lymph node dissection, followed by more chemotherapy. Again treatment was successful.
In 2002 I was diagnosed with a papillary carcinoma of the thyroid and subject to a total thyroidectomy and Radio-iodine I131 treatment, which was successful.
Recently I was diagnosed with a further relapse of teratoma and as well as a raised AFP (alpha-feta protien) two tumours were discovered by CT scan in my abdomen, buried in the tissue adjacent to the spine and the aorta.
Things went from bad to worse with numerous consultants telling me that treatment was limited, likely to be unsuccessful and that my time on Earth was to be measured in a few scant years, if that.
Having beaten this bugger many times before, I was unprepared to acquiesce to this disease on this ocassion. So, I looked for options, sought to pay for treatment myself and garnered an opinion from the USA. If I was going to go down, it would be as a best second that any cancer had ever had the misfortune to be involved in.
I went to see my Consultant last week, Friday 30th, to see what was what and what needed to be done next. More blood was taken and more tests run. The expectation was that my AFP would be rising, thus indicating the incresed spread of the new metastases. I got the results yesterday, from The Christie Hospital in Manchester and here they are.
My AFP has dropped by 25% and the second marker, called a BHCG, has returned to normal. So, without any treatment, it appears that this new cancer may have gotten the message and may yet decide to sod off and leave me alone.
So surprised are Christie's, that they have booked me in for a free CT Scan, saving me ?3,000.00, to see what is going on. This is booked for Friday 13th August, with a follow-up Consultation on the 20th, when they discuss the CT Scan results with me.
So, to those of you who have helped me, supported me, wished me well, or simply ignored my past fit of madness, thank you. Something has done me good in these last few months and I attribute this possible and favourable reversal of fortune, in some part, to you, this place and the Friends that I have made here.
Thanks from me, my wife and my kids. God bless you all.
PS: Don't stop all those positive vibes that you are beaming my way.
I will let you all know how it goes on the 20th.