I’ve got a couple of posts lined up for you but I thought first, since you haven’t heard from me in a while, I should give a quick update.
Though to be fair the reason you haven’t heard from me for a while is because I literally have nothing to update you on.
Well that’s a lie, since we last spoke I bought a flat and moved in on my own for the first time ever! Nothing like cancer to give you a mid (1/3?) life crisis. So yeah when I said I have nothing to update you on I actually mean I did one of the biggest things you will do in your life. So that’s fun!
I was told my first implant surgery would be Jan/Feb. Over Christmas I was cc’d in on a letter from the teeth man to my local GP that said they would be aiming for February. Well… It’s now mid Feb and I haven’t heard anything so I guess that won’t be happening…
I met someone recently who had a similar surgery to me and has just had his first implant surgery. So I got some details from him about the process. Basically it’s done in three phases. The surgeries are quick, but they are done under general anaesthetic. There will be approximately 5 months between the first two surgeries and hopefully not too long between the final two. So I’m hopeful I might have some sort of teeth thing in around 6 months from first surgery. When that will be I couldn’t tell you. I really hope I get teeth by the end of the year…
More limbo, more of the waiting game. I’ve been busy while waiting though, details of which I will share soon.
Today I went in for my 3-monthly chest xray and quick hello to my Onc(ologist). There’s some sort of familiarity with coming back to the Cancer Centre, but also a strange detachment from the place that was practically my second home for so long. Just as I was waiting for my xray I looked up as the lift came down and to my surprise I saw my friend Krista, who has just finished her chemo for osteosarcoma in her leg! We had a quick catch up, she’s in for immunotherapy every week.
So the chest xray is every three months – the most common place for osteosarcoma to spread to is the chest so they monitor it closely. How are my xrays looking? Well they’re not clear… There’s been something showing up in the xrays since mid last year (yeah I’ve known about it for a while), so more CT Scans and MRI to see what’s going on. Could it be cancer metastases? Yeah it could. Is it likely to be? We don’t think it looks like typical mets but the only way to be sure is with scans. So bring on the scans! Either way I have some damage to my lungs, so that’s fun! I don’t feel compromised, so hopefully nothing too serious.
I hope you all have a lovely weekend planned! I’m off to the theatre tonight!
The Cancer Chronicles 
Hey Jen – excited for you! New place and New teeth. Whatever is ahead sure you will face it with the same humour and courage that has inspired us all!
Enjoy the theatre and your weekend. Big luv from Liverpool x
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Hi Jen, the worries and delays continue, but I know nothing gets you down. Your indomitable strength and courage are an example to us all. I hope to see you on my return from CBR. Love, John.
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Jen, lovely to get an update..I know you said there wasn’t a lot to update us on but hey! You’re hitting some pretty big milestones still. My implant ‘foundations’ have bedded in well, so can vouch for stage 1 of precess passing uneventfully. I know what the holding pattern of inconclusive scans are like, currently in one myself. Wishing yours the all clear soon. Great fun on the Macmillan video shoot, you’re a natural in front of the cameras :). John x
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That is really fabulous news that you have your own place now, well done you, I see a lot of fun in your future:~) I feel for you having to have so many tests and MRI’s and CT’s and stuff as they can be so wearisome I know, as I have just had my first ones of the year. But as long as the testing comes up on the right side we feel blessed to have them.
Sending you much love and luck for the rest of this year ending with a full set of beautiful teeth:~)
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