If it wasn't for bad luck.......

 Well it's been a while since I posted an update on this blog and it's all down to my health and not particularly good health!  First problem, about 13 years ago I had bowel cancer which was discovered due to the bowel screening programme that is run by the NHS, without this I doubt I would still be here, anyway after an operation and the removal of the cancerous bowel I got a clean bill of health and life continued. The screening tests come out every 3 years I think it is and I do it as a matter of course and the last one has come back as positive for something dodgy, not again! Anyway went up to Raigmore hospital in Inverness and got a colonoscopy which showed a rather large polyp that the surgeon reckons could turn nasty, so a biopsy and a CT scan was done that day, good news is that it is not cancerous nor is the bowel around it, they still want to get rid of it but it is a pretty minor procedure so all good on that front.

The second health problem is not so good news though, at the end of August start of September my lymph nodes got swollen, went down, swelled up, went down and finally swelled up again and stayed that way, so of to my local GP who took blood samples and passed it onto Raigmore hospital, ENT got in touch so it was up to see a specialist. Then it was a round of tests, ultrascan, biopsy, MRI and another CT scan, all done and dusted I went up and saw my ENT specialist and was told I have a small cancerous tumour on the underside of my tongue! Good news is it is small and not growing and has not spread to my throat or my chest as they can do, and since then it has been a steady trip up to Inverness to see dentists, dietician, speech therapist, my own nurse and at the start of the year my oncologist who will tell me what is due to happen and when.

My nurse filled me in on what is going to happen and the ENT specialist also let me know the procedure, the oncologist will tell me the time scale which works out at 4 weeks Monday to Friday of Radiotherapy followed by 2 weeks Monday to Friday of chemotherapy, when that is done and dusted I should be clear and that little parasite should have gone for good. Sounds by all accounts that I have a hard slog for a couple of months at the start of the year but the prognosis is good and for that I am one happy wargamer! After this is done I go back to ENT and go to the specialists Thursday clinic for 5 years!,can't fault the after care that's for sure.

So a bit of a shock and a bit to take in but everyone has been so nice and allayed any fears that I am about to shuffle off, thing is apart from the swollen neck I feel great! good appetite, still fit and healthy, which I suppose is good for the forthcoming treatment.

All this has kind off put my hobby time to a real premium and I have done really nothing at all, my main hobby time has been following and reading all my favourite blogs and this has kept me going nicely, I will have a bit of time of work but don't really know if I will be up for doing any painting or gaming, just have to see how it goes. This is my last year at work as I am retiring at the end of the year and now I am going to miss 2-3 months of the start of the year there too, they have been great and it is a weight of the mind not having to worry about that.

Well not the last post of the year I wanted to make but it's a good prognosis and it's not going to put me under so it's just a case of onwards and upwards and see what's what at the end of it all. Good thing is I am a pretty positive person and don't get depressed easily so in a good place with good friends and family around me all should end well. I may not post too much here for a while but I will still be reading and posting on all the blogs I follow ou there, so keep me entertained folks!!