Bad news and good news

As Catherine and I went to bed last night, we did so with a feeling of increasingly heavy hearts and needing a renewed sense of peace.

It all started last Monday. Just as we were arriving to stay with old friends Shaun and Helene in Bedfordshire for the week, I became aware that a small lump on my neck, above my larynx and present for some weeks, felt bigger and certainly more tender. After a late night trip to Bedford hospital A&E, and then an emergency ENT appointment the following day, immediate concerns were allayed as the consultant felt it was no more than an epiglottal cyst, unrelated to the cancer. To be safe however, after a phone call to the Exeter Oncology Department, I was booked in for both an ultrasound and oncology appointment upon our return. Those appointments took place yesterday.

It’s both bad news and good news.

The bad news is that the ultrasound indicated that the mass on my neck is suspicious and not a cyst. There’s also further evidence of one or two other small melanoma deposits in my lower neck.

The good news is that consequently, the surgery planned for today was then, late yesterday afternoon, cancelled. It was felt to be a pointless exercise cutting bits and pieces out when it seems the melanoma is on the move again and that more cancer deposits might just show up in other places in weeks to come.
So, the next step is that I am being put onto ipilumumab’s successor, pembrolizumab, starting within the next 2-3 weeks. It’s a new drug, only just licensed for first line usage within the NHS and is having even more startling effects than ipi. It involves an infusion every three weeks for the foreseeable future.
I’m also being sent for a full body PET scan in Taunton within the next two weeks.We’re familiar with this as Ben had one. It is THE most thorough metabolic scan one can have, and will give the medics a complete picture of what’s what and what’s emerging.

As I arrived home from the hospital last evening, phone calls to the children and our families followed. I think everyone has responded along the lines, “Hhhmmm…OK…right…not bad, but not good”.

Twelve hours after the news, we’re feeling both delicate and as if we’re on a new roller coaster ride. Having braced for surgery and its aftermath, we’re relieved in one way that it’s not happening. But the implications of my melanoma being on the march again, particularly as it involves neck and potentially head, especially tumours…that’s a different story.
An inner journey carries on and once again we find ourselves afresh before the Throne of Grace. As Catherine left to teach the first day of the new term this morning, understandably anxious, I sat up in bed, cup of tea in hand, to read my “Bible in a Year” selection. Psalm 4 was among the readings. I listened and read along as David Suchet read it (click here to hear it). But as I quietly read it again myself, the Word started to do it’s work once more as Jesus drew alongside.