My treatment is a pain in the butt!
This title is a bit 'tongue in cheek' (....did you see what I did there?) I'm very happy to have had treatments for my stage IV cancer, I can think of far worse scenarios.When I was first diagnosed, the dreaded word 'Chemo' was discussed. Actually, Chemo isn't particularly effective in treating low grade Neuroendocrine Cancer, although I've heard of cases where it has made a difference. It's mainly used in high grade (Grade 3) but also in Grade 2, particularly at the higher end of the grading scale of KI67/Mitotic Count. I was pleased later when that was dismissed as…
It’s been 10 years since I saw a scalpel (….but my surgeon is still on speed dial)
In 2012, I had a bunch of lymph nodes removed. Two separate areas were resected, only one was showing growth but both were showing up as hotspots on an Octreoscan. I had known since shortly after diagnosis in 2010 that 'hotspots' were showing in my left 'axillary' lymph nodes (armpit) and my left 'supraclavicular fossa' (SCF) lymph nodes (clavicle area). Some 10 months previously, I had a major liver resection, and 5 months prior to the liver resection, I had a small intestinal primary removed including work on some associated complications. There had always been a plan to optimise cytoreduction of my…