Surgery, more chemo, and REMISSION - DECEMBER 2022

A lot has changed in the last 6 weeks. I had surgery in early November and spent a little while in hospital. The surgeons are as fantastic as I knew and everyone that day made a very scary thing feel much more doable, a special mention to some very entertaining anaesthetists and a very welcome epidural. I recovered well and was allowed to leave without a wheelchair crutches were a non negotiable as apparently I couldn’t be trusted to take small enough strides to let my muscles recover.

Then came the waiting, waiting for results and waiting to hear about chemo or further surgery or radio or potentially all three. As always I was overwhelmed with support from my wonderful family and friends, I have been touring the various brunch/lunch destinations within a half hour radius of home. (For the locals, @wythmails, @pigamdwaffle and @the boathouse have been my faves. I got back down to london to see some of my favourite ladies, I had a date night with my dad to celebrate one of my best friend’s beautiful wedding and I got to see one of my newest friends ring the bell (virtually, so proud of you @veronika). We decorated early, and as usual Chloe picked the perfect tree.

Last week one of my specialist nurses called to tell me that surgery had gone pretty well and that someone would be in touch about chemo, the next day another of my nurses called to ask if I could come in and start cycle 10 the next morning. I was relieved, they seemed positive but for some reason I couldn’t ask what I wanted to. They both made a point of telling me how complicated my histology was and how many people had been involved in the discussions. I’ve joked throughout this that I wouldn’t want a boring cancer, but sometimes it would be nice to feel things were a bit more straightforward. They still can’t tell me exactly what sort of Sarcoma it is, our best guess is still a Ewings type.

So, this week I’ve been back in Notts for chemo. Reunited with my consultant who was delighted to tell me that the chemo had been more successful in treating the tumour than they could have imagined and that although the surgeons had to leave some scar tissue that my surgery has been categorised as an R0 resection, meaning the margins are cancer free!! This would mean no further surgery and no radio. Of course he delivered this news whilst I’m plugged in to a big bag of chemo so I still wasn’t completely sure. It took me another 2 days to feel brave enough to ask him. He asked if I had any questions and I’d wondered how to say it, I probably could’ve been a bit more eloquent, but decided on “do I still have cancer?”

“No, I don’t think you do”

I am now officially in remission. I still have 5 rounds of chemo to complete to try to ensure that anything that could have been missed is well and truly dealt with, and I’m hoping to finish treatment in mid February (BRING ON THE BELL).

This isn’t over for a little while still but I have the best possible news I can have for now, we don’t get to say cured for about 5-10 years. As I said to my consultant, I feel incredibly lucky. He disagrees, you have to be pretty unlucky to get a Sarcoma and even more unlucky to get one at my age but equally, I have been lucky. Lucky to have had him and the new team I have here, lucky to have the team I have always had at home and lucky to be able to say that together we’ve done it.

P.S got a new wig too x P.P.S brows are (temporarily) back P.P.P.S chemo has made it impossible to hold anything hot or cold hence the gloves