Clinical diagnosis

Formal clinical diagnosis and treatment planning day!


Claire and I met with Professor June Corry to go through the results of yesterday's PET scan, and the proposed treatment.

I was extremely anxious as this was going to tell us how this was going to play out. June went through the images of the scan, and it was great to see i had a full active, healthy and functioning brain. Great for Claire to see that as she can no longer say things like "you're brain dead", or "you're an idiot", "Did you get dropped on your head at birth?" and the like: I had medical proof and a professorial opinion. Take that! But I only had a shit-eating grin on my face for a little bit.

As we went further down into the neck area it was evident there were problems. There are two large, pear-shaped tumors in my neck, approximately six centimeters in length. One is in the centre from the back of my mouth to just above vocal chords, and the other is on my right-hand side of neck. To see this was distressing and confronting.

Every cloud has a silver lining, and mine is that it has not spread anywhere in my body, and that it is treatable and curable. Phew. It was Grade 3, Stage 3, so this is serious.

June then went on to explain the treatment, how it will go, and the side effects. There is no way to hide the fact that this will be brutal on my body; there's just no way around it. It will be debilitating. I will have second degree burns on my neck, with blistering. My throat will be on fire and I will lose the ability to swallow so will have a feeding tube in my nose leading to my stomach for liquid feeding. And more. The bottom line is my body is going to take a brutal beating. I'm up for it.

It's going to be many months of hell, but, considering the alternative, I'm ready, and I will win. I have never felt more confident.


























































































































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