Over the course of my journey I've been lucky that, by in large, my medical "umbrella" has been consistent. Looking back, it was really only the district nurses that have been "swapped out". That has now changed.
Over the last 15 months or so I've been having regular treatment at the osteopath to try and restore some movement in my neck (to overcome the scarring done by the radiotherapy). My therapist has been Melissa, but from next week it will be Sanjay I see. Melissa has moved to Auckland with her partner, so now I'll need to establish a "relationship" with Sanjay and I'm seriously thinking it might not be worth the effort. No disrespect to Sanjay (I haven't even met him yet), but I'm not sure I can be bothered starting all over again,and I'm wondering just what can be achieved by continuing to go for this treatment.
I've got considerable movement back in my neck, but there hasn't been any noticeable new improvement for a little while now. So, is it time to cut the tie? I'll give Sanjay a go, but think the decision is already made.
You'll all be aware of my Gang of Seven (the group of specialists & support team that I see at each clinic appointment). As previously discussed, my last clinic was actually a gang of one - only Mr Hamilton was there. Again, he represents continuity from day 1, but there is another specialist who I've seen periodically, and that is Mr Morrissey - the ENT man who performed the biopsy & confirmed the initial diagnosis.
I've seen Mr Morrissey maybe once every six months or so, and that has normally been somewhere in-between the normal clinics. Given I only saw Mr Hamilton in June, it was with some concern that a couple of weeks ago I got a letter advising an appointment with Mr Morrissey for today. I now admit that I didn't really acknowledge in my mind the previous appointments I've had with him, had I done so, I wouldn't have given today's visit a second thought.
Anyhow, today amounted to another hearing test (basically unchanged from the last one) and then a quick (I mean quick) appointment with Mr Morrissey himself. All good as far as he is concerned, so that is always good to hear, and as the last 2 hearing tests have been the same, won't need to do them again for a while. Seems I'll now be on a regular cycle of appointments with him as well (next one will be 4 months).
It was his comments about the future that were quite interesting. Seems that 5 years remains the timeframe where it is deemed I have beaten this thing. At 2 years (August 16th is my re-birthday), the fact there are no signs of the rotten sod trying to make a comeback is good. Seems if there is going to be a repeat attack, they normally occur earlier rather than later, so the more time that passes with a clean bill from the experts, the less likely it is that any of us will have to endure the agony of fighting the bugger again.
So, Melissa has gone and Mr Morrissey has come into the fold of regular visits. Just when things appeared all settled, somebody throws the dice, and you know what, I don't think there is really anything wrong with that. It stops complacency setting in.
