Light at the end of the tunnel

Just got back from the consultation with my surgeon, the very good news is that the Chemo/Radio therapy has worked and the cancer has not spread. The tumour has been shrunk to an operable size.

My surgeon will write to his counterpart at Frimley Park (where there is a Da Vinci robot) and arrange a consultation for me. This does not necessarily mean that this will be the route I go down but it does give an opportunity to discuss this option.

I am looking at 3 weeks before I would have conventional surgery and possibly longer before laparoscopic surgery but the shorter recovery time associated with this method will balance out the potential difference in total time involved.

Needless to say both Stella and I are extremely pleased and relieved with this news. Although we both feel strangely anticlimactic about this outcome(?)

Another week!

Just been phoned by the hospital, I'll be sent an appointment for this Friday.. another week. Fuck!

Failure to fire

Went to the hospital on Friday but didn't see my consultant. He was called to surgery with no prospect of returning in time for his clinic. I did see one of the nurses though, I will be called early on Monday (13th) about an appointment outside of clinic times.
I am disappointed but have to be philosophical, any delay in surgery puts back my progress however the nurse said that he wants to discuss surgery options including the Da Vinci robot, this could (potentially) shorten recovery and thus negate delay.

Something strange has happened to the area that has been exposed to Xray radiation, it has gone bald. Usually my body is hairier than a lycanthrope at full moon but now I look like a human patch work quilt!
This should recover according to the experts - I certainly hope so.

"T" minus One (day)

So, tomorrow we'll find out what's going to happen next. We have discussed a list of questions to ask but the list just seems to get longer the more we talk about the possibilities. However, the big ones remain the same, what (are the outcomes from the scans and surgical method), when (will surgery be done), where (will it be done) and how (long will recovery be). I think both Stella and I will be relieved once we know the next direction, 6 weeks is a long time to brood over all the different potential outcomes.

This week we have been fairly busy (I'm filling the vacuum), last weekend Gabriel, Dad and me went to the Bike show at the Excel.

Gabriel got to sit on some of the bikes. However, he was the wrong shape (no beer gut) and 30 years shy of a mid life crisis, the criterion for riding one of these!

Sticking with (motor)~bikes, I got my one MOTed and had new tyres put on it in preparation for my being fit enough to ride it this Spring.

The snow had us out and about this week as well:

This is Stella and me re-enacting a scene from love story, the kids thought this was 'Gross' though why they thought it was big escapes me!

I expressly forbade this but as in most matters domestic I was ignored.

This was sprayed onto the wall of the motorway underpass, street art or graffiti?
This weekend will be another busy one as it will be Gabriel's 15th birthday.