Familiar territory
I’ve returned to familiar territory recently, with a diagnosis for head & neck cancer again.
It was detected from a routine checkup with my specialist (I’ve had these 6-monthly for the past 12 years). My specialist spotted something that looked unusual at the back of my throat, and asked if I’d noticed it. I hadn’t. In my case I have significant scar tissue and other damage from radiation and surgical treatment in 2009, so it can be difficult for the untrained eye to differentiate between the good, the bad and the weird.
So, I was referred to another specialist, who decided to take a biopsy. I returned to Wellington Hospital’s CSB block, Level 10, to sit in the exact same surgery room I had sat in June 2009 for the biopsy that led to my first cancer diagnosis. A sample of tissue was once again taken, sent to the lab for testing, and a four days before Christmas was confirmed as cancerous.
Between Christmas and New Year, I had chest and head CT scans to determine the extent of the cancer, followed by a multi-disciplinary Clinic on January 20th to hear the results of the initial scans, and discuss plans for further testing and treatment.
At this stage, the plan is to have an all-day surgery at Hutt Hospital in late February, performed by two surgical teams. The purpose is to go for cure: to remove the cancer tumour and affected tissue, and to retain as much speech and eating function as possible. I’ll then have a couple of days in intensive care, followed by approx 2 weeks recovery in the hospital (reacquainting myself with the Plastics Ward from my 2009 sojourn - hopefully a room with a view). My 5 year old daughter Mia is now referring to this as “Daddy’s sleepover at Hospital”. She was amazed to hear I’ll be eating through tubes (“through your nose?! your nose!?”)
Since the clinic, I’ve had a series of appointments in the past week, with further tissue-taking, testing and examining. Last Thursday I got to see the tumour itself, in real-time. One of my surgeons used a clever Narrowband Imaging camera to explore the affected areas while displaying it on a large TV beside me. The technique filters white light from the spectrum and uses blue and green light to highlight cancerous tissue, contrasting it from unaffected mucosa tissue. It was remarkable how obviously different the bad was from the good. Appearing like an alien ooze from a Peter Jackson’s Bad Taste, it looked suitably villainous and clearly has got to go.
Today I have another three appointments, at Wellington and Hutt Hospitals. First, I’m off to have an ultrasound to get my legs scanned. I suspect it is to investigate some more parts for re-purposing. One of my surgeons told me, with a Frankenstein gleam in his eyes: “You have good veins…”
