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I may be a little while......

Parthia27

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Parthia27

Parthia27

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Every now and again life throws down challenges that you need to face up to and tackle. Four years ago I had to battle a life threatening Cancer known as Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma (ACC). This is a rare form of Cancer which attacks the nerves, usually in the head and neck, grows slowly in a radial fashion, and is liable to reoccur sometime within 5 - 10 years of its initial treatment. There is no pattern to who does and does not get this strain of cancer, it is purely down to the presence of a genetic marker which randomly occurs throughout a population and affects about one in 500,000 people.

 

Last time I was lucky, I was diagnosed with a Level 4 Tumour which had been growing undetected in my upper moth and sinus areas for 2 - 3 years. It very nearly finished me off once and for all. Since then life has been good, I survived, got better, and I have gradually got my life back and have tried to make the most of every day since.

 

Well, earlier this week I was floored to be given the news that the cancer is back, though seemingly in a smaller way in my upper right jaw, hopefully in a place where it can be removed 100% with surgery. My oncologist seems to think they have caught it early as it was spotted during one of the regular MRI scans that I have as part of an ongoing monitoring regime. I do have to have abdominal scans to see if there are any secondaries in my lungs, kidneys or liver, but I believe it is treatable. Why I was shocked to find out about its return I do not know, 80% of people who have ACC have a reoccurrence, but you never expect it to happen to you.

 

Anyway the upshot of all of this is that I will disappear for a while from this and other forums I frequent. The treatment will likely be started within the next 2 - 3 weeks, and will involve a 10 to 12 hour operation at the Royal Marsden Cancer Hospital in London. The team who look after me down there are marvellous and the best in their field in the UK. The recovery time is usually 2 - 3 months from the operation, then another 1 - 2 months to get back into shape physically. I'll probably be back to annoy you all sometime around Xmas this year.

 

Wrt commitments I have made to exhibitions and for the several people who I have projects in the pipeline for I'll be contacting u all individually to determine how to take things forward, I'm still hoping to be at TVNAM with some sort of layout but will probably pull out of other commitments.

 

My focus now is on getting this sorted. I've gone through the initial few days of shock and denial, I'm now focused and ready to fight. I refuse to feel sorry for myself and let this f****r of a disease get the better of me. I have beaten this curse once, and will do so again. I am fortunate to have a wonderful wife and kids, and a great network friends to support me. The surgical and oncology teams at the Royal Marsden are superb. Hopefully I will have the opportunity to post for a week or so in the time leading up to the operation and I'll dip in for a good read as and when my recovery allows.

 

Keep up the good content that you all contribute to what I believe is one of the better forums on the internet.

 

TTFN

 

Chris M

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PhilH

PhilH

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Here's hoping for a positive outcome over this.

 

You sound strong, stay strong, and if there are days when you're not feeling quite the ticket come on here for a good old whinge and moan.

 

One thing's for sure we'll be here to spread the love!

 

Phil

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Parthia27

Parthia27

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Thanks for your kind words folks. I really appreciate all of your support. I just hope that I can get well soon enough to finish the layout I'm planning for TVNAM. I'll have plenty of time to do some research whilst horizontal in hospital. I'll post updates on how I get on when it is possible.

 

Cheers

 

Chris

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PGC

PGC

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Go beat the , Chris. You sound strong of mind and you obviously have good friends here so we look forward to hearing from you, and in the spirit of all senior people, it will be sooner than we remember!

 

Phil

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Parthia27

Parthia27

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Just to keep everyone up to date, I had an appointment with my consultants at the Royal Marsden in London yesterday. No further tumours were found in my head and neck which is good news. I have got to have a CT scan within next 2 weeks to check it has not spread to my lower abdomen or chest. I see the team who will be operating on me on 4th September following which they plan to operate as soon as they can.They should be able to remove the tumour with good margins. It will leave me with no Jaw on the RH side of my mouth and I'll have a plate where my jaw should be. I think I will be in hospital for about 10 days. Not sure about recovery time yet but there is no radiotherapy so it should be reasonably quick. That's all I know at the moment. This is probably the best prognosis I could expect. Let's face it, when you are as challenged as I am in the good looks department the loss of a jaw is neither hear nor there :-). I'm a bit frustrated that they cannot move sooner but they have to confirm that the disease is restricted to the head / neck area. Thanks to everyone for their best wishes and support, it really means a lot to me.

 

Cheers Chris

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Waverley West

Waverley West

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Best wishes to you, Chris. Keep positive, as you obviously already are. Sounds like you've got some good support both medical and personal there. And as you can see from these posts, you've plenty of support on here too. So much of illness is in the mind I think and positive people always seem to pull through that bit better somehow. Not much chance for a miserable old(ish) so and so like me then. 

 

Cheers and all the best,

Dave

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Parthia27

Parthia27

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Guys, once again many thanks for your kind words and support.

 

Today I'm going to motivate myself and do some modelling, even if it is just fitting some couplers to a railcar or fitting some new wheels to a bogie. I'm trying to get by without taking too many painkillers, the tumour is just above my upper jaw and feels like someone is trying to pull my teeth out with pliers, I've got painkillers which have the strength to sedate a horse, but that means I sit round like a zombie all day (some would say that is nothing new!) doing nothing which I hate.

 

So no gain without a little pain and effort - I've got 4 new cars to re-wheel and put new couplers on, that's today's target :-).

 

Cheers

 

Chris 

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trisonic

trisonic

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Chris,

 

I've been diagnosed with Cancer 2.5 times (don't ask) one of which was severely life threatening. I'm still here lolling around in my seat in front of this damn computer.

If I can survive anyone can ('cos I'm a fatalist).....

 

Best of luck and think positive.

 

Pete.

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Parthia27

Parthia27

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Chris,

 

I've been diagnosed with Cancer 2.5 times (don't ask) one of which was severely life threatening. I'm still here lolling around in my seat in front of this damn computer.

If I can survive anyone can ('cos I'm a fatalist).....

 

Best of luck and think positive.

 

Pete.

Hi Pete,

 

Thanks for your support, hope you are in the clear now.

 

The only way I can tackle this is to stay positive and fight it, last time I had this in 2009 I was told I had 6 months to live and (with the help of an amazing medical team and the support of friends and family) I beat it.

 

I plan to do the same this time.

 

I've got too many things I want to do and a wonderful family I want to be with. Failure is not an option.

 

Cheers

 

Chris 

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Mike Boucher

Mike Boucher

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Every now and again life throws down challenges that you need to face up to and tackle. Four years ago I had to battle a life threatening Cancer known as Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma (ACC). This is a rare form of Cancer which attacks the nerves, usually in the head and neck, grows slowly in a radial fashion, and is liable to reoccur sometime within 5 - 10 years of its initial treatment. There is no pattern to who does and does not get this strain of cancer, it is purely down to the presence of a genetic marker which randomly occurs throughout a population and affects about one in 500,000 people.

 

Last time I was lucky, I was diagnosed with a Level 4 Tumour which had been growing undetected in my upper moth and sinus areas for 2 - 3 years. It very nearly finished me off once and for all. Since then life has been good, I survived, got better, and I have gradually got my life back and have tried to make the most of every day since.

 

Well, earlier this week I was floored to be given the news that the cancer is back, though seemingly in a smaller way in my upper right jaw, hopefully in a place where it can be removed 100% with surgery. My oncologist seems to think they have caught it early as it was spotted during one of the regular MRI scans that I have as part of an ongoing monitoring regime. I do have to have abdominal scans to see if there are any secondaries in my lungs, kidneys or liver, but I believe it is treatable. Why I was shocked to find out about its return I do not know, 80% of people who have ACC have a reoccurrence, but you never expect it to happen to you.

 

Anyway the upshot of all of this is that I will disappear for a while from this and other forums I frequent. The treatment will likely be started within the next 2 - 3 weeks, and will involve a 10 to 12 hour operation at the Royal Marsden Cancer Hospital in London. The team who look after me down there are marvellous and the best in their field in the UK. The recovery time is usually 2 - 3 months from the operation, then another 1 - 2 months to get back into shape physically. I'll probably be back to annoy you all sometime around Xmas this year.

 

Wrt commitments I have made to exhibitions and for the several people who I have projects in the pipeline for I'll be contacting u all individually to determine how to take things forward, I'm still hoping to be at TVNAM with some sort of layout but will probably pull out of other commitments.

 

My focus now is on getting this sorted. I've gone through the initial few days of shock and denial, I'm now focused and ready to fight. I refuse to feel sorry for myself and let this f****r of a disease get the better of me. I have beaten this curse once, and will do so again. I am fortunate to have a wonderful wife and kids, and a great network friends to support me. The surgical and oncology teams at the Royal Marsden are superb. Hopefully I will have the opportunity to post for a week or so in the time leading up to the operation and I'll dip in for a good read as and when my recovery allows.

 

Keep up the good content that you all contribute to what I believe is one of the better forums on the internet.

 

TTFN

 

Chris M

 

Good luck with your fight, Chris!  You've beat it once, you can beat it again!

 

As I type this, I'm hooked to an IV getting my second of many treatments for Leukemia.  Yesterday I sat in this chair with two Slaters P.O. wagon kits on a table in front of me, gluing it together.  Yesterday AM they were "new in box", today they're on their wheels with about 1/2 the brake gear installed.  By the end of today, they should be ready for touch-up paint and weathering...  I'll have to figure out which of my Parkside/Slaters kits to bring in for my next treatment.  Don't think I dare bring in a brass kit and soldering iron, however...  :tomato:

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