February-March 2006 - PET Scan and surgery

Early this year I saw my GP for my annual medical checkup. There were no issues that I was aware of, and in fact no problems were picked up. However, I did discover a small lump under my right ear, and mentioned it to my doctor. I went to a specialist, and he referred me for a needle biopsy. Unfortunately this came up positive for Melanoma.

The next step was to have a scan done. The purpose of this was to find out how far the Melanoma had spread. The technique used was a PET Scan, which is a new and expensive technology… Fortunately we found it was limited to the Parotid gland. [You can read a good description of PET scanning at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positron_emission_tomography.]

My surgery took place early in March 2006. The Parotid gland was removed, together with a few adjacent glands. The pathology report indicated that the problem was limited to the Parotid gland.

Having surgery is never pleasant, but everything went off well. I recovered rapidly from the surgery, and was able to get back to work within a couple of weeks.

The oncologist wanted me to start on Interferon treatment as soon as possible. However, I delayed this for a week as I had a few other priorities in my life: The wedding of my niece. So once the wedding was over we proceeded to the next step.

Over the last year I changed my job. From working for a large company, I now work as an independent consultant. This was a major change for me... I was just getting the change sorted out, and starting to have some success, when this new challenge came out of nowhere and hit me for a six!

I need to try and describe how all of this affected me. Looking back, I remember being gobsmacked by this sudden change in my life. I remember a feeling of shock when I first got the news ... I felt this could not be happening to me; and perhaps if I ignored it, it would simply go away. But reality is not a fairy story. The problem would not go away.

Now, I have always been a pragmatic person. When faced with a problem, I face it seriously and work away until the problem is solved. This is not always the easiest path, and I have had some challenges in the past. And some problems are not easily solved...

In this case I had to recognise the problem, and then work out a way forward. I did some research on the internet, and discussed it with the oncologist in some detail. You can do the same searches yourself - The following is my summary of what I have found:

1. Melanoma is a serious cancer. It can spread very rapidly.
2. Even after the visible melanoma sites have been surgically removed, there is still the possibility that melanoma cells will migrate through the body and start new growth sites.
3. Interferon is the best (or only?) treatment available. The way in which this works is not properly understood.
4. The aim of Interferon treatment is to assist / encourage the body to destroy melanoma cells.
5. First prize would be to destroy all melanoma cells. Second prize would be to delay the development of new melanoma sites. Third prize = no impact on development of new sites. I gather that the statistics on the above are roughly one third each way.

So, the crucial question must be: What can I do to achieve the best outcome? Or, put another way, how can I shift the statistics in my favour? The answers must be as follows:

• Take the Interferon treatment seriously. Follow all the instructions carefully - Give it a chance to do its job.
• Maintain good physical health as far as possible. Get as much exercise as is practical; eat well; Minimise bad stresses on the body.
• Maintain good mental health. Cultivate and maintain a positive outlook.