One of the particularly nasty aspects of cancer is that it has a tendency to “recur”. I mean it sucks to get cancer to begin with, but to be hit with a recurrence after fighting it off once really sucks!! AND to be struck a third time... well, as many of you affirmed in your notes to me, "IT JUST ISN'T FAIR!!"My original diagnosis was in August of 2004. I spent the rest of 2004 and the first half of 2005 undergoing surgery and chemo until I was finally found “All Clear”. Yee Haw!! It was a great moment to get CT Scans, PET Scans, and blood work results all back “negative”. I was celebrating what we know in cancer lingo as “No Evidence of Disease” or “NED”.
Then in the fall of 2006 I had another CT Scan. Initially it looked good and my surgeon and I were quite happy… then he got the radiologist’s report and I got the call to come back to his office (never a good sign!). The radiologist had seen things a little differently and a PET Scan was ordered to confirm if the “hypodensity” on the CT Scan was indeed malignant. Well it was… so, there you have it… a recurrence!!
Initially, the news of the recurrence was pretty devastating. But eventually, as hopeful treatment options began to emerge, a “we’ve been through this before, and we can go through it again” attitude began to take root. I had successful RFA (What is RFA?), another round of chemo, and once again emerged with "No Evidence of Disease"!
So... here we go again! This time a "local recurrence". Local recurrence is what we call a cancer recurrence that takes place at the original location. In my case it seems that some residual cancer cells grew to become a malignant tumour in the vicinity of the original site. This tumour then spread "posteriorly" to the sacrum. Ouch!
I met with the oncologists at the BC Cancer Agency today and they have recommended a 15 day course of radiation. I have decided to go with this and will probably begin within the next week. It is a "painless procedure" with "minimal side-effects" which should "significantly reduce" the amount of pain I am experiencing. (for which I will be most grateful!)
Living with the possibility of a recurrence is a challenge that all cancer survivors have to face in some way or another. Author, and cancer survivor, Vickie Girard has a great philosophy for living with that possibility. She says it is like planning for a picnic when the weather forecast includes a possibility of showers. Do you cancel the picnic and stay home, or do you go out and enjoy the day anyways, perhaps putting a tarp and raincoat in the trunk?
So… do we let the possibility of a recurrence diminish our lives, or do we “seize the day” and live life to the fullest? Cancer be damned!!
Carpe Diem… Rob; in Vancouver
“You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.” Margaret Thatcher
