You may well live in a closet…I would hope not because that would be somewhat worrying…not to mention dark… There was a programme on the Beeb last night all about the recent advances in Cancer treatments we don’t know about.
Well sort of….. if you are a patient and totally ingrained in Melanoma & Cancer then it didn’t actually tell you/me anything new. But for the general population, who were last week somewhat taken aback by the news that 1 in 2 people are going to get a cancer in their lives the programme was designed to provide you with hope….to show that there are advances….treatments that mean that you can “have cancer” and still live a life.
To put that into perspective…chances are you have 2 children…one of them will fight Cancer.
The programme was somewhat frustrating….they covered various other cancers where there have been advances in treatments and sadly in each case the patient lost their battle…yet when it came to the Melanoma section the patient (a fabulous lady called Vicky from my support group x) was still in good health at the end.
Normally when “Cancer” is on the TV they only ever talk about the common cancers in any great depth….but last night they discussed 2 rare cancers in quite a fair amount of detail…and for once Melanoma was actually Malignant Melanoma not just “Skin Cancer” and so the severity of it was acknowledged….maybe for once the population would understand that this isn’t just a case of a dodgy mole that gets taken off….this monster invades inside.
So it was brilliant for me & other patients to see Melanoma get such coverage….but you see….the fact that it ended so well doesn’t mean the fight is over. The wonder drugs don’t work for everyone…they still “fail”…they are not fixes or cures but simply that each drug regimen is a carriage on the rollercoaster….and eventually you run out of carriages.
There is a possibility that the recent advances in treatments…the latest tranche of immunotherapies have potential…but Melanoma still gets considerably less financing than many other Cancers…and even when it gets funding the money gets bundled into “Skin Cancer” so an important message that could have been addressed, was in my opinion missed.
Yes there is hope….yes there is a chance they can get patients with Melanoma to live for 5, 6 or even 10 years once the disease has progressed….but not everyone is that lucky. The lady I mentioned recently who lost her battle fought for 18 months after her disease progressed…and her son is 10 now…..and I look at my own son…..and think how old he will be in 18 months….and then I swear quite rudely in my mind.
If you haven’t watched it – do – if for no other reason than to think marvellous thoughts of the Royal Marsden and the dedicated Cancer facilities they provide, their novel bead idea for juvenile Cancer patients & to check out the Oncologist who has been described online on a Melanoma support group several times in the last 24hours as “eye-candy”!!! I can only imagine how much he has blushed today!
I did some blushing today too.
I went up to a very early oncology check up at the Churchill hospital in Oxford.
I had several clients to visit today for work so I was in work mode….in a lovely pair of Hobbs black cigarette pants….close fitting on the derriere ……I got dressed VERY early…..rummaged around in the dark to find a matching set of lingerie that could be worn under said trousers without causing a VPL…the colour didn’t matter too much…not that that ended up being the problem…
I arrived before the rush hour traffic even started in earnest.
I was taken in, weighed (without any tutting because they had misplaced my notes so had nothing to compare against!), and then sat in a room to await an Oncologist.
5 minutes later the nurse came through to apologise for the wait….I was to be seen by Mark Middleton and he was just finishing up with another patient.
My mind should have been filled with thoughts of wonder & awe….I was about to meet The Prof! Professor Mark Middleton the head honcho…the boss…the one who I always wanted to meet…but sort of dreaded ever having to meet because If I met him it would be bad…it would be because my Cancer had progressed…..I had no reason to be seen by someone so important today….not when I feel so generally well…..not when I was wearing a purple & white lacy set which included a THONG.
I was bought 2 wonderful & totally perfect sets of hospital friendly underwear for Christmas…..but they would not have worked under the black trousers.
I should have been hanging on every word the man said….but to be frank until my clothes were back on I was more concerned with the fact that the thong I was wearing was accentuating my rotund rear end and I would turn around any moment to see the great man himself on the floor having had a heart attack…..how would I ever explain that to the rest of the Melanoma patients around the country…ah yes…”my bad…I wore the wrong pants!”
Blushing over & follow up appointments / CT scans planned….and then what can only be described as the highlight of my day occurred.
“before you go”……”we are looking to put together a panel of patients to work with us, to review our trials and how we run them and we want to know if you would like to be on that panel”
To be a patient…and to be able to have input….to know that the team who you trust so implicitly with your health…your life….. are actually going to let you talk to them about how to make the already fabulous service level they provide to patients better is quite an honour!
Having Melanoma takes all control out of your life…..today The Prof gave me some back!