Have I mentioned before how much I love the NHS? Within about a minute of being referred to the lung multi disciplinary team, I began to receive phone calls organising lung function tests and a liver MRI – all of these “exams” that I must pass before my case would be put before the surgeons.

One of the criteria led to my first ever PET CT scan which took place a couple of weeks ago. A PET CT scan is the most detailed imaging scan a cancer patient can have, and provides head to toe information about exactly what is going on inside your body. I was injected with radioactive sugar and left on my own in a room for an hour or so whilst the sugar went to any cell in my body that required it (i.e. those glucose loving cancer cells!) I was then taken for the scan, which is similar looking to a CT scanner (big huge doughnut shape) and not at all as claustrophobic as an MRI scanner (think coffin). I had a nice snooze, and was then released in to the wild – with the caveat that I should not go near any children or pregnant ladies for the next 8 hours as I would still be radioactive.

Dr F called me a few days later and sounded genuinely ecstatic to be able to tell me that there are no other cancer cells in my body apart from the remaining nodules in my lungs – Yay! This means that immunotherapy has been effective, but also that anything going forward is much more manageable from a low level of disease standpoint. It also meant that my hope for surgery was becoming more of a possibility.

A few days after my PET CT results, I received a call from a Cardio Thoracic Surgeon at the Heath Hospital in Cardiff. I was to come in 2 days later, for what I thought would be a conversation discussing options. Pre-covid, a patient in my position would have perhaps 3 appointments for a variety of assessments and tests before a big operation, now they are trying to roll them all in to one so that you visit hospital as few times as possible. Surprisingly, covid is working in my favour. Not only did I meet and talk with the consultant, but I also had a full pre-op assessment which included ECG, chest x-rays, blood tests, MRSA swabs etc. The consultant and nurse case manager called me in to look at my scans – first time I’ve done that and pretty amazing to see the inner workings of your body right there on the screen. I could clearly see these 3 little nodules sitting there, 2 in my left lung and 1 in my right lung. As I’ve never had any symptoms from them, it was oddly reassuring to see them for myself in black and white (and a bit of grey).

The consultant was incredibly relaxed and matter of fact. I am absolutely eligible for surgery. I will have what is called VATS (video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery – i.e. keyhole surgery) and wedge resection to my left lung first in 2 weeks time, and then after I have recovered from that I will have the same thing done on my right lung. The consultant showed me exactly what they will take – in all around 10% of lung tissue which apparently is almost nothing. Many people walk around with 1 lung I was told so this is fairly minimal. They will go through my ribs only making tiny incisions, and I should make a full recovery. Within 6 weeks. And that’s that.

I will be in hospital for a week or so (per operation), and I’m hoping the pain medication will be free flowing. It sounds quite extreme, to have surgery of this sort twice within a short space of time, but I feel like I can handle it. I just can’t believe that these nodules which I have been agonising over for the past couple of years will then be gone. I’ll hopefully be heading in to 2021 without a cancer cell in my body.

Now, before anybody gets excited, melanoma is a tricky bugger. It lurks in the system and can come back anywhere and at any time. So I’m pretty sure that this will not be my last dealing with the whole thing – but I don’t care for now. As I’m buying time. Surgery means I haven’t used my treatment option B. I’m happy with the game plan so far, and will report back from a hospital bed in a few weeks time. Wish me luck!