Bad News and Liver Cancer. One Year On.

Exactly one year ago today I received the news that I had liver cancer. I’m not going to go into the details as they are all well documented on here.

It was my birthday weekend and I was given the news by telephone at 4:30 on the Friday 8th September 2017. I didn’t do much celebrating. But since that fateful day in September 2017 so much has happened. One could say my life has utterly changed. It is true to say that I would not have believed on that day last year how much it would change in the coming year.

But mostly I survived the cancer. Yes I was lucky. I believe it was due to the diligence of my doctor, Neil Pandya, at my local practice in Dublin Ohio who kept pressing for more tests even when I had been told that I was ok. And yes I do wonder if that would have happened if I had been in the U.K. then. Maybe it was karma that had seen me return to the USA in June even though I had many many doubts at that time that things would work out between myself and my wife Kit. Maybe it was predestination at its best. Maybe predestination is still in play?

In the year that followed I had the operation, a liver resection, which again is well documented in this site. The operation was a complete success and by Christmas 2017 I was cured and virtually back to my old self but a little wiser. In January this year I told Kit I could no longer carry on with our marriage and by February we had filed for divorce which became final in April this year.

One of the tenuously possible reasons for the liver cancer may have been down to the fact that I had been diagnosed with hepatitis C. I have undergone drug therapy for that in the U.K. and I am pleased to say that it is also now cured. I have my final meeting with the nurse and blood tests on, ironically my birthday on Tuesday next week but the previous test 4 weeks ago already showed that I was free of the hep C virus. I am just completing the course of treatment now.

I have lost a lot more weight in the past year also. At the time of the op I was 175lbs (12 stone 7lbs) and I had already lost 45lbs even at that time through sensible eating and exercise. Now I have lost another 40lbs, mostly since April and I now weigh in at 135lbs (9 stone 9lbs). In fact I am now so fit that I no longer have type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure or cholesterol.

So there you have it. One year on and such a momentous 12 months to look back on. And for most of it I have either faced it alone or feeling alone but I hope that will not last. Until then there will be some mystery to my life….haha. But until then I have 2 birthdays to celebrate…😀