Its been a while regarding my post regularity. In that time I have had microwave liver ablation which is where the cancerous bit of your liver gets fried with microwaves. ( my tuomours were small and there were only two which is why I qualified for this fairly new procedure. Too many tumours and your liver becomes swiss cheese which is why it is not open to everyone). I am lucky, although I didn't feel it at the time. The pain post procedure was something else!! I ended up being given morphin and then Ketamin......an experience I do not wish to repeat. i had heard of the 'K hole' that clubbers in the 90's referred to, unfortunatly i had first hand experience of this, and I did not like it one bit, it was a total out of body experience of which you couldn't return from. You had no feeling anywhere and were floating in this abyss, hearing voices in the background, but all you can see is a white light. Dose me up with morphin and valium anyday but please don't give me that stuff again!!!!
I then in the early part of Jan 17 had a bilateral immediate reconstruction skin saving mastectomy, this was fine, and I recovered well. The tumour had not grown since the last measurement in August!!! I have been taking letrozole which is an oestrogen suppressent as my cancer is oestrogen receptive, I had a hysterectomy in 2012 so am pretty low naturally anyway. I have also been taking my body weight in turmeric, in the reccommended form with fat and black peppper and cooked/ melted into little coffee bean capsules in a silicone mould. I take it with a hot drink, usually fresh lemon and ginger. To melt it again as it goes down. Anyway, today was the oncologist appt, after a CT I had last week with contrast. The cancer removed from my breast as mentioned was still 6mm, a few cells had spread to the sentinel lymph node which had been removed, but no other traces, the liver now just had scar tissue, from the microwave ablation. The doctor smiled and said, it is the best we could have hoped for. She knows that many people have been where I have before and the future is just so unknown, she is not going to tell me i am cancer free, although the term is no traces of cancer, she knows it would be foolish as there is no evidence that i am cancer free and only time will tell on that front. But for now I allow myself some prossecco time. It is a journey, I have ladies in my secondary breast cancer group who are facing the end of their lives, the cancer has spread to the menenges on the brain which means a very poor prognosis, so it is hard for me to truly celebrate, at the same time it is a stark reminder that life is so precious and we really do have to make hay while the sun shines, it may be a cliche, but when you are dealt a fateful hand you have to run with it and spread the news. I have no idea whether the letrozole on it's own stopped my cancers growth OR whether it was a combination of the turmeric and letrozole. All I know is my doctor said 'Keep doing what you are doing...just keep doing it' What I would say to you is prevention is the best thing you could do for yourself. Get off the sugar, get on to turmeric, look after yourself. You may think as we all do, that making hay means eating and drinking what you damn well want, well i know that you can change your health, you can and what you put in your body is a big part of that. My physio said that in 3 months I can start running again, my aim is to get onto a 5 k inflatable obstacle course as it sounds like fun!!! My new breast is in better shape than my natural one!!! I felt tears come into my eyes to day as I thanked my oncologist, she works so hard until 8pm some days phoning patients checking and double checking my heart is connected so deeply with the NHS for all they have done for me, the selfless commitment, she knew that my thanks were heartfelt, she has to deal with some really hard days in the office that alot of people just don't understand, the ladies in my breast cancer group, some of which she has to tell they have weeks to live, it is not just a job, it is a commitment, a compassionate commitment that wants nothing more than to do the right thing for very ill people, it is the government that is destroying the lives of all of these people, making it all so hard for them and gives them such guilt when resources run out. Please support the NHS as much as you can and please ................look after yourself NOW don't wait for symptoms.........................
