[CANCER] Another Appointment: Spinal Surgeon

Today, I was swiftly fitted into a gap in Mr George’s surgery, so that we could establish, as expected, that I am not currently a candidate for spinal surgery. This time it was at Salford Royal (and not the Christie bit), but the surgeon’s secretary instructions were excellent in getting me to the neurosurgery door, then when someone spotted me, time for #waitingroomfeet:

 

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Another day, more #waitingroomfeet – this time for a chat with the spinal surgeon.

A post shared by Bex Lewis (@drbexl) on Mar 19, 2019 at 8:23am PDT

I had been sent for the appointment as Dr Colaco felt that as I was in fit/good condition, it was worth a discussion to cut the tumour out, rather than try and blast it with radiotherapy rays. Mr George was clear in that it’s still relatively rare for spinal surgery to be undertaken on oligomets (or indeed any treatment at all if it’s asymptomatic), but that the cross-Manchester team wants to check if there are opportunities to be ahead of the curve, but that radiotherapy and spinal surgery are both not without risks. He indicated that even though we can put people on the moon, still cutting tumours out is the only real ‘curative’ option, but because the tumour would require the spine to be rotated, and is close to the aortic nerve, and because of the size of it (1.8-2cm, with a bit of swelling around it), radiotherapy at present seems to be the appropriate option.

Mr George had already seen my MRI and CT scans – and they were on the screen when I can in – and I then had my back prodded, was asked to bend backwards/forwards/side-to-side, asked to talk through treatment so far, and what I understood was where we were with treatment. I then asked for a closer look at the scans (I might ask if I can see my breast scans too actually – it’s kinda fascinating to see inside the body), and he said ‘they are yours, you can have a photo of them if you like’, so chose the two which gave the clearest picture…

MRI Scan

You can clearly see the dark mark which is the tumour in T11 (I’m not convinced I’d call that tiny, but still..)

CT Scan

So this is a cross section of my body. The dark circle is near the spinal cord, and the bit in the top of the ‘spaceship/penguin’ (as noted on Facebook) where the dark spots are is the tumour.

We then had a brief chat about what I’m OK to do at the gym (emphasis on pilates, yoga, only light weights, low impact, etc.) and he emphasised that it’s really important to keep this going – the fitter I am, the more treatment options open up for me if things progress/spread. If the radiotherapy doesn’t work (unlikely), then we can talk more.

So, tomorrow morning I have a chat with Dr Calaco and hopefully establish the official start date of chemotherapy.