So here I am, back in the Day-care Ward on a lovely bright and crisp Auckland afternoon, having my fortnightly, seven-hour infusion of PexG. Have I missed this place these last three weeks? Not one bit. Nor have I missed the wooziness, the sick feeling in my stomach, the horrible metallic taste in my mouth, and having to pee into a jug in order to measure how much of the four litres of fluid going in right now is also coming out again! But the good news is that coming off a break I’m a little stronger. Plus a number of other side-effects, like the burning sensation in my finger-tips­ and the skin on the pads of my thumbs peeling off, have disappeared altogether. I guess they’ll all reappear any day now.
 
Yesterday we met with the oncologist and discussed the results of my most recent blood tests. All good but even better, the tumour marker reading was down a little. Any amount of ‘down’ is good as far as I’m concerned!  And while it’s only an indication of what the tumour might be up to, and we can’t get too excited, it does imply the tumour might be a little less active. Hopefully it’s suffering the mother of all hangovers, a fitting punishment for having invaded my pancreas to party hard these last months! Even more interesting, the result comes during a chemo holiday – and nearly four weeks after starting medical cannabis oil.
 
Friday 6 July will be the big day though as that’s when I’m having the all-important, mid regime cat-scan. Giving a truer picture of the current size/position of the tumour, will we be celebrating afterwards or commiserating? At this stage I have no idea. But if the tumour has reacted to treatment, then we have another decision to make. From the beginning the aim was to shrink the tumour and then take it out. But that requires a major operation and could include removing not only half my pancreas but more likely part of my small intestine and stomach, possibly leaving me with digestive difficulties or even a diabetic. Worse, while this surgery offers a longer lifespan than I would otherwise have, there is still a finite point. And this is where medicinal cannabis oil comes in, for if it turns out to be the wonder drug some say it is and can decrease or even kill off a tumour, then surely it would be better to hold off on cutting me open and give the oil a chance?
 
The jury is out for now.