More uncertainty in the Tao in October, Specialists to the right of me, Specialists to the left...

Taooftash.com - Tao banner

A good time was had by all in Italy, which I will leave Mark to tell you about later.

After we returned, I was given an appointment to meet my new radiologist, "Dr Bone" whose speciality is zapping of the brain and spine. He has been instructed by The Slev to do a very "polished job" on T4 (the 4th vertebrae of the Thoracic Spine) which is where my new problem lies.

A "polished job" in this case will require a 4.5 week course of radiotherapy treatment. For those of you that aren't aware, radiotherapy is very much like having an x-ray, only it is focused on a very specific target. It is given every day for the duration of the course, except Saturday and Sunday.

You can read about it here if you want: http://www.cancerbackup.org.uk/Treatments/Radiotherapy/Beingtreated/Externalbeam

The next step involved being "measured up" in preparation for the treatment. This simply entailed lying on the radiotherapy machine and the CT Scanner while the radiotherapists marked out spots on my back which will be used each day to line up the machine's beams to ensure the zap is delivered to exactly the same place each time.

So I am now technically ready to start radiotherapy however as I have to have my liver ablation first, it will probably begin toward the end of November.

I had another CT Scan on Friday in preparation for the ablation. This was to check that all my bile ducts were working OK, as the doctor wants to avoid any complications like we had last time, back in June. She has given them the thumbs up, and I am booked in to have this done on Wednesday, 8th November.

She confirmed that the 2 spots we are targeting this time are both previous offenders and she is going to use 3 electrodes instead of 1 in order to burn out a bigger margin. Strangely I find that quite pleasing!

So, that's the update for now. I will pass you over to Mark and hope you're all well. Take care, Tash.

I have been dealt yet another fierce hangover today; it is not just that I like a tipple, more that my body likes to make me suffer for my indulgences, so I have not much to say other than the Tao is having a bit of a design update, hope that it meets with you approval. Mark.

Hello Everyone,

Tash here (for a change). I don't know if you've noticed but we've been stalling on giving you a proper update this month and that's because I have been having my quarterly scans and a few other checkups. I differ from Mark in that I don't like to say anything until I have all, or most of the information. So now we do, here is the real deal.

How it started:

After our splendid trip to Sweden and Mallorca, I returned home with quite a sore back. I had lugged my bag around quite a bit more than usual, so I had put it down to a pulled muscle or some kind of strain. Being the person that has a specialist for every occasion, I called my physiotherapist and booked an appointment to sort it out. He initally estimated 1-2 sessions to sort this out, it then turned into 3-4 and moved into 5-6. During the last couple of appointments, I noticed the concerned look he had when I said it wasn't getting any better. At this stage, under 'normal' circumstances, the next step would have been to have a hydrocortisone injection into the joint however, as I'm not 'normal' he wasn't comfortable doing that until we ran everything by my Oncologist.

I went over this with 'The Slev' who arranged an MRI just to be sure. The next week followed as such:

Wed: MRI
Thu: Call from Slev to say I had a narrowing of one vertebrae, possible causes: Osteoporosis or bone metastasis (Secondary Breast Cancer spread to the bone.)
Fri: Bone Scan
Mon: Appointment with Slev, results from bone scan, a collapsed vertebrae and we're still not too sure about the rest.
Wed: CT scan, PET scan, Ultrasound
Thu: Bad news....

In keeping with tradition, I have managed to fit in quite a lot of time under the Laser/Camera/Scanner in the last ten days.

How it ended:

Today's verdict was:

I have one or two more spots in the liver which we will have further ablation for (3rd time lucky)
I have a small tumour on my spine which I will probably have radiotherapy and some drugs for. (We will find out more about this next week)

As you can imagine, I am not too happy with all of this and although always positive about my situation, my patience is starting to be tested!!!

In usual style, we are off to Italy tomorrow, to digest this news and have a good time with the Veronese gang. It's the twin's birthday and after all their concern during and after my last debacle in June, I wanted them to see I was fine and fully recuperated.... how ironic!!! We will have a good time nevertheless and we'll keep you all informed with developments as they happen in the next week or so.

Hope you are all well and I apologise to the number of people that are due a phone call from me, but this is why I have been putting it off (apart from being insanely busy at work too)

OK, bye for now. Tash

<< Catch up with the November Tao Update -oOo- Read what happened to us in August (pt 3) >>

blank