Thank you very much for your kind words and thoughts. Continuing on from the above, I had a 1-hour Clinic with my Palliative Care Consultant yesterday. We covered a lot of ground in an hour and it became somewhat complex, but here is the gist if it.
The Kidney Function and Liver Function Blood tests showed that the markers continue to elevate, moving in an expected but wrong direction. The Kidney Function was slightly ambiguous, and my Consultant will request an Ultrasound Scan as well as the C.T. Scan that has already been requested. I was then physically examined, which for the first time highlighted the discomfort in my Abdomen.
My Consultant could feel externally where my Liver has become distended, and hardened. This would explain the general pain in my belly, and why I feel a bit out of sorts most of the time. I assume that the C.T. Scan may reveal more, although Iām not sure if any sort of time scale can be determined ā i.e. how much and by when will my day to day activities be affected. All I can say is that when I was first given the Terminal Diagnosis in Dec 2019, I felt absolutely brilliant. My Colostomy Bag had been reversed in June, I had loads of energy, and I could cycle like a racing Whippet
.
Coming up to date two years on, I can now āfeelā something externally in my Liver, and I have very little energy, which is āmanagedā by some pretty hectic Class A Drugs; talking of which, my Consultant has increased the dose of two of them, and added two further pretty standard drugs for pain relief.
My Consultant asked me how I feel about all this, and I always respond by saying, āThis is where we are with it, this is
āthe newsā ā we canāt do anything about that, so nothing will be achieved by getting dispirited about it. Itās the cards that I have been dealt.
I would like to get my place clear of tat, so that my brother and sister donāt have a huge task of wading through my clutter. Iāve done the biggest and trickiest clear-out by moving my massive bike collection on - thanks Wadsy. This may seem premature to some of you, but it will make me feel better if there is very little to sort out when I am no longer able to do so. My Consultant did add that if I feel this would be beneficial to me, that it would be wise to get moving on this now while I have the energy and the wherewithal.
Phew, I reckon thatāll do for now!
Pip.