Day: October 29, 2026

Even so the thought of having to do so again is terribly demoralising and it is very dispiriting to know that the control over one’s life has to be handed over to others no matter how caring and professional they are.

It looks like I’m on the receiving end of a double whammy because as well as now being diagnosed with colon cancer it appears that the lymphoma for which I received treatment in 2017/18 and have been in remission for since then has also returned.

I have no idea how bad the situation is and neither at this point does the amazing medical team in Perigueux in whose hands my life now rests. I’m back home for now after having had three scans in three days, the last a TEP scan ( or PET scan for Brits) at 10.00am yesterday. The medical team is now analysing and discussing all the results before deciding what the way forward will be and calling me back in again.

Within days, literally, I had three scans, a detailed physical and psychological evaluation, a consultation with the same surgeon who previously operated on me when I was last diagnosed and then received a treatment plan. They can’t and won’t make any promises and the surgeon especially put on a very optimistic face, but the surgical and oncological teams here think that my illness is eminently treatable.

After going through a very black period anything remotely positive was very good news to me and this was more than I could have hoped for, but although there is now a small light at the end of the tunnel, it’s still a long way away.

I was told that although my cancer is operable, after which I will have to have a temporary stoma bag, when that has been removed after a couple of months I would be left with more or less my original bowel function. This was very good news as I’d said that I’d rather be granted 5 more years without one than 10 more years with and they assured me that this would not be necessary. This was a great comfort.

However, this won’t come without a price because before an operation will be possible I’ll have to undergo an intensive program of radiation and chemotherapy every day for 5 weeks. Previously I’d had a tube inserted into my chest, which I subsequently asked to be removed, delivering the chemo directly into my heart but when I asked about this I was told that this time the chemo would be administered by mouth. However, I’d probably find the radiation a bit gruelling and we’ll have to see how that goes. But I have cause for much hope.

I finally asked the surgeon what I should do while they are making the plans and preparation for my treatment. He said to keep doing what I usually do and make no changes to my life, and while I feel up to it that’s what I’ll be doing. So yesterday as it was fine I went out into my garden and resumed work on the base for my proposed workshop.

My terrace will eventually be coming up one way or the other so I decided to uplift some stones from it to make a ramp to allow my excavator to get down into the hole I’m digging for the base. The reason is that the height of the earth at the back of the hole has to be reduced to make it level all around and as my excavator’s boom can’t reach the back of the hole from the front, the best way to do it is to get the excavator down inside it.

It was hard work the more so as I haven’t been doing anything very strenuous for some time but while I can that’s all going to change. I’m not ready to give up yet.