How to begin?

I've got Cancer. It'll probably kill me eventually, but not this time. Without knowing, but after listening to past survivors, the outcome of this particular ride will probably result in a fair degree of disfigurement, lots of pain and a necessity to reinvent myself after the treatment's finished.

There's been lots of false starts to this blog. Not sure why. I think maybe because it's important to me that this becomes something that my family, friends and anyone else going down this path finds informative, factual and entertaining.

If I construct this as a Diary I think it will become very emotive, and that's not going to help anyone. If I write it in a "smartarse" way I probably won't be convinced that I'm getting the important messages across. So what to do??

I think I'll probably just wing it and change styles, etc. as the mood takes me. Look at this, three paragraphs in and I haven't actually told you anything.

So... It began about six months ago. I started to get a bit of discomfort under my right eye. I had a small lump removed from my right lower eyelid in 2014 and it was starting to droop and not close properly. My GP referred me to a surgeon at the Soldier's Memorial Hospital in Hawkes Bay who did some great work tightening the eyelid. While there she also biopsied a couple of areas around my eye to check if I had other problems. When the biopsy results came back they were all clear but I was still whingeing, so she referred me back to the Maxiofacial Surgeon who sorted my nose out when I developed an SCC in 2013. (You can read about that journey at www.chrisflaherty.blogspot.com)


Anyway, after a bit of prodding and poking, a couple of MRIs and a CT scan, they found a mass had formed along the Infraorbital Nerve under my right eye. The mass extends along the nerve on both the inside and outside of my cheekbone. So, a biopsy later and it's confirmed as Squamous Cell Carcinoma. Same as my nose back in 2013.


Here's an interesting aside...

The PHO (Primary Health Organisation) in Hawkes Bay are promoting a website called "Manage My Health". You can find it at www.managemyhealth.co.nz They also have an App of the same name that you can download from the App Store or from the Microsoft Store. Anyway, I've been using it for awhile and every time someone adds a report, a lab result or a doctor's comment to my records I get an email from Manage My Health to tell me there are new records. That's how I found out about the biopsy results. I've gotta say, I found it much better than having to present myself to a clinic to have someone try to give me the news without upsetting me, and me wandering off feeling confused and dejected.

Moving on... the wheels are now well and truly moving. Next week we're off to Auckland to meet with a Multi-Disciplinary Team. During and after the meeting they'll be finalizing the plan and locking in the way forward. It sounds as if I'll be having surgery in Auckland, sooner rather than later. Then, after about five weeks of recovery I'll be reporting for radiotherapy. Mind you, this is all subject to change.

How do I feel about all this? 

At the moment, I'm quite calm and, in lots of ways, looking forward to next Spring. I've joined the "Head and Neck Cancer Support Network" and have already received lots of good advice and encouragement from other members. (I've pretty much ignored the negative feedback. Even while I understand why people feel they need to tell me all the bad stuff, I figure I don't need that in my life at the moment.) Denise and I are busy sorting stuff out, to make her life easier going forward, and we're both in a pretty good place at the moment. 

It's the little things. We found a highly recommended lawn mower man today. He's locked in, and it looks like we've found a good gardener as well. We're still to sort out the mail redirection and probably some other little issues that we haven't thought of yet but, in the words of Paul Hogan - "She'll be right"

Thanks for "listening". Looking forward to your comments, and this time I'll try harder to reply to them.