Note: Some of these earliest postings were originally posted to facebook, at the time all this stuff was happening. Nice to have it copied to here.

It might seem a bit crappy posting this to facebook, but I really can’t face the thought of ringing all my mates individually and going over the same conversation umpty bazillion times. So here it is, so that everyone knows what is happening.

I’ve been having some pain in my shoulder recently and had a number of tests, x-rays, ultrasounds and so on trying to find out what on earth has been going on. When I had my ultrasound, the doctor wanted to get some standard chest x-rays just as a precaution. From there, I was called into have a CT scan, which has revealed a number of enlarged lymph nodes in my chest and this is almost certainly what has been causing my shoulder pain. The upshot of this is that I have now been fast-tracked to get treatment for cancer, with a diagnosis of lymphoma.

Quite how bad this is I don’t yet know. Lymphoma (so they tell me) is one of the least bad types of cancer and there are excellent treatments now available. Basically at this stage, I will be needing to see what the specialist says after further testing including a biopsy and similar.

Right now it’s not feeling very real. Cancer is something that happens to other people and not to me, so I sort of feel like I have this mate who is ill and it’s not really me. Also I’m completely focused on the possibility of chemotherapy leading to hair loss, and I’m sure I have better things to worry about.

So, that’s my news. Feel free to pass it along.