It’s time to find our family feet once again and process a new chapter that is unfolding .
For those not familiar my mum brought me to this forum around 14 years ago when she was diagnosed as a stage 4 patient with a large spread to her liver . It was August and we were scared , would it be her last Christmas ? Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine she would also respond well to treatment and still be here as an older lady with lots of treatments and complications under her belt but preparing for Christmas once more .
A fourth recurrence in September 2022 was discovered and she went back into treatment in Feb 2023 . This time Cetuximab only and a new learning curve unfolded . Once again it did more than anticipated in my mind and has not only held the spread back but some powerful shrinkage and stability too. I have still to get the details as my sister took the call but seems some tiny lesions measuring mm have knocked this option off the table .
However we are also aware to keep a balance at this age and to be honest she has been in tighter spots over the years but it takes time to stabilise after these bumps on the road .
Our approach as a family is to always view this as a chronic condition and the aim always been to control the tumour burden and steadily reduce it .
In my heart I wish there was an easier way but also very grateful to have a gritty wee mum who rises like a phoenix from the ashes .
There has been so many surprises on this journey , surprise at it turning up , the speed of growth in the liver compared to the snails pace the tumours growth in her lung . Surprised and rejoiced when treatment shrank right off the scan and surgery opened up .
The small percentages of success and the narrow avenues she had to squeeze through to make this work have had to make us draw deep . But our biggest surprise has been her ability to find joy and a great life in the mix .
So she is back to the drawing board of life and will carve a way forward .
Best foot forward and a very happy weekend to you all ,
Court x
