Results...

Today we received the results of my recent scan: Clean! No growth of the pancreatic tumor, and no spots showing up anywhere else...

It's the best possible outcome (though ANY other outcome would be the worst possible), and needless to say we are VERY pleased and relieved. The past week has been strange, I've been a bit numb as I awaited today's news, not worried so much as cautious, afraid to be too optimistic in case the worst was revealed...

The mental game is the hardest part of this new life I am leading... I feel healthy, I continue to follow pretty strict dietary and naturopathic practices, so I feel I am doing almost everything I can to fend this off.. but, I am not quite able to believe that I am cured.

So on we go... next scan late January!

Chainlink has been installed...

Yesterday I had my hernia fixed. Wire mesh was put both under and over the tear in my muscle, joined through the hole. I am now home recovering... and re-discovering the postures and sensations of my last operation...only this time the opiates are a little weaker and the pain a fair amount lower (in location).

I was able to put off the surgery till now, allowing me to get my classes to a place where my absence would be more manageable than those tender first few weeks of school.

So I'm putting in lots of sofa time, an ice pack in my lap, Vicodin in my belly and a stack of old Gourmet Magazines that I have been obsessively pouring over... salivating over recipes, 99% of which I can't eat. It's hard to explain, but I get some kind of perverse pleasure by reading about all these rich and currently restricted foods. I need my 5 year survival certificate before I can let some of that stuff slip back into my diet.

That's not to say that we don't eat well. We do. Flavorful, organic, fresh foods, whole grains... I just miss the richness of cheese and cream sauces, not to mention a little beer and wine... at least I don't really crave sugar, that used to be a BIG part of my diet...

My last visit to the Naturopath to discuss my treatment and go over the latest blood work, revealed that my uptake of some vitamins and one blood factor had fallen off a bit. That combined with unpleasant digestive issues I have been having since the operation in March led Dr. Belanger to suggest that my pancreas may not be aiding digestion fully after sustaining damage from radiation, and that I should look into taking a pancreatic enzyme through my primary care doctor. I've been taking that enzyme for 3 weeks with every meal and my digestion has returned to normal... our next meeting in a month will reveal if that was also responsible for the blood level issues.

I feel strongly that the diet and supplements I've been on though Dr Belanger has been key, in combination with conventional care and other approaches, to my still being around.

And I am very happy to have the naturopathic treatments continuing, as it gives me a structure to continue my healing now that conventional medicine has nothing more to offer me.

My next MGH body scan results meeting is scheduled for October 27...