The oncologist speaks

Yesterday, we celebrated the end of the month sharing a fine, leisurely lunch with four friends. Today, in contrast, we were at Addenbrookes Hospital oncology clinic, where a pleasant young man explained the consequences of immunotherapy in great depth before getting me to sign on the dotted line. The specialist explained that the tumour they removed was about 1.5cm diameter, and had been there slowly growing for about two years, so it will almost certainly have seeded to other regions of my body. However, the recent scan was clear so there are no gross masses, and they will give a drug to stimulate my T-cells to fight any cancer cells they find. I am to be treated with a drug called Nivolumab, (trade name Opdivo). I thought the drug sounded familiar - when we looked it up, it is made by Ono Pharma, the very company I have been working with for three years. Nivolumab was called ONO-4538 during its development stage, and I am in the process of developing a modified drug called ONO-4685. So not only is Ono Pharma providing my livelihood, it may be prolonging my life. 

I am what is classified as BRAF negative, which is a form of melanoma less responsive to immunotherapy. Nevertheless, on balance the chances of surviving a bit longer are greater with the treatment than without it. I will have intravenous therapy every month for a year, preceded by blood tests to make sure it's not knocking out my thyroid, liver or pancreas. He thinks I will get the first dose in about a fortnight, so I will keep this blog posted re any side-effects or problems.

Edwin returns to the UK today. He let me know what flight he will be on so I can track him over the Atlantic on FlightRadar. He went to the US in good time; I read tonight that they may introduce mandatory isolation again for all visitors to the US in the near future, meaning family Christmas's will be out yet again for many people. This new variant should have been called xi if it followed the Greek alphabet strictly, but the WHO have refused to name a virus after the Chinese president Xi. They also decided to skip the letter nu in case the Americans confused it with some different "new" virus. So, two letters further on, it is called omicron. Although its presence seems to be increasing rapidly as it displaces the delta variant, it doesn't thus far seem any more dangerous in symptomatology, but governments around the world are panicking like mad and gleefully imposing more and more restrictions. At this rate, we'll all be facing repeat lockdowns and furloughs. Happy December!