Tues 19th: further treatment required

I saw the physician today, Dr Lorrigan, and his assistant.

The assistant started by talking about radiology and using the drug, interferon, to reduce the chance of reoccurrence.

They then inspected the wound and decided that some bumps on the skin which have appeared in the last week are probably caused by the skin cancer. The physician's opinion is that further surgery is inappropriate and that treatment by chemotherpay is urgently required.

A CT scan is being arranged and it takes a week to get the radiographer's report.

I have an appointment with Dr Lorrigan for 3 January, by which time he should have the CT scan report. By then, he should also have discussed me with the surgeon and other specialists to see if they recommend alternative treatment.

There is a clinical trial of a new drug which may be superior to the existing treatment. Assuming I agree to this treatment, I have 50% chance of getting the new drug. From what I gather both of them would be done as an outpatient. The standard treatment is Temozol and is described on the Christie's website at chemotherapy cards. There is no description of the experimental treatment, but the test is reported at Medical News Today.

Both treatments can have side-effects and my resistance to infection is likely to drop. The documentation I have refers to continuing the treatment "until you stop receiving benefit from the treatment". But the TMZ.htm link above, refers to 4 week cycles repeated upto 6 times. So I assume it is expected to have done its work within 24 weeks. I hope that it is not normal to require such a long treatment.

I am going in to the Dressings Clinic tomorrow morning. They can compare the bumps with what they saw last week and they may have their own opinion.

I had been feeling better and cutting back on painkillers, but my skin has got more irritable over the last few days. I put it down to healing, but I am having a rethink.