One Hundred and Forty!

One hundred and forty stitches! That's how many Mr Hilal calculated my Whipple procedure needed, give or take one or two.  In surgical procedures they count the number of needles rather than the number of stitches. That makes sense when you think they need to count the needles used and then the same number at the end of the procedure so nothing was left behind.  I had 79 needles, some will have done as little as a single stitch, others several, and the big count will have been for sewing up my abdomen.  I have to say Mr Hilal has done a great job in sewing up my belly, it looks very neat indeed!

So, what happened with the sweepstake and who is the closest?  Well, the great news is we've managed to raise around £1,500 thanks to all your generous donations.  Hopefully, I can get this match funded by Microsoft to make it £3,000.  As for the results we had ten people that guessed over a hundred, the top five contenders shown below.  The winner being the cloud platform legend who is Jeff Johnson!  Well done Jeff.

1. Jeff Johnson guessing      150 (10 stitches out)
2. Pete Edmonds guessing   128 (12 stitches out)
3. Steve Domeney guessing  120 (20 stitches out)
4. Jayne Hurrell  guessing   117 (23 stitches out)
5. Justin Couzens guessing  168 (28 stitches out)

I haven't worked out the prize yet, that's still work in progress.  I'm thinking maybe a track driving experience, something I can join in too :-)  I'll keep you posted on what I can get sorted, I'll need to play the charity card on this one.

It's now been four weeks since the operation and I'm still making good progress, very good progress I'm told.  I'm drain free and have no tubes coming out of my belly. Hooray! The final one was removed last Wednesday which was a blessed relief not having a bag stuck to my side capturing a tea coloured fluid from my pancreas.  I have to say it did play with my mind a little, I've only just been able to stomach drinking normal tea again!  Food consumption is going well, I'm eating a good healthy balanced diet including steak and chips with a glass of red wine.  An essential meal to help with the anaemia!  I'm actually gaining a bit of weight rather than losing more which is pleasing.  I'm trying to consume as much top quality protein to help speed up the recovery process even more, and it seems to be working.  My sleep has been a disturbed by the pain and discomfort and not being able to sleep on my sides.  However, last night was the first night of reasonable sleep I've had in months, only getting up once at 3am.   My exercise is ramping up, as well as longer walks I'm doing some light dumbbell work, squats with dumbbells and 3 x 20 press-ups.  All manageable, light on the stomach muscles and beneficial to my state of mind.  It makes me feel so much better doing something than sitting on my fast disappearing arse.  So, overall I'm positive about my recovery but anxious about the next step.

Sarah and I met with the Oncologist, Dr Timothy Iveson, yesterday to find out what my next step is.  We spent some time going through the histology results and why chemotherapy is needed to help remove the risk of a reoccurrence of cancer, potentially liver or lung cancer.  Due to the results of 3 out of 7 of my lymph nodes that were removed contained cancerous cells there is no certainty that the surgical procedure has been curative.  There is also no guarantee that chemotherapy will kill off all/any of the cancerous cells but we were told it does have a 10-20% success rate.  I'll take those odds and stack them on my side.  The treatment will involve two drugs proven to be more effective when used together, administered over 6 cycles.  Each cycle will be 4 weeks, three weeks treatment and one week rest, then start again.  There could be side effects which range from being constantly tired to having flu like symptoms and mouth, hand and foot ulcers.  I don't want to think how bad I'd feel if I get all of those!  Some people fare better than others, let's hope I'm one of the ones that fare better. 

I'm now getting myself mentally prepared for the start of the chemotherapy treatment. One thing that did throw me was Dr Iveson wanting to start the treatment in two weeks time due to my speedy recovery from the Whipple procedure, typically 4 weeks sooner than most!  The sooner I start the sooner I finish I suppose.  I'm staying positive but I do think that there has to be a load of luck on your side when dealing with cancer.  So, here goes into the next step with a positive approach and my fingers tightly crossed.


Picture: This Sunday (8th Jan) a foggy walk on the coast at Hill Head, Solent.