The Optimise Health Blog

I had surgery for malignant melanoma on April 18th 2012. I don't normally remember dates but as this was the first general anaesthetic and the first time I had ever had significant surgery I remember the day and the events leading up to it very clearly. I spent the next 8 weeks off work willing my leg wound to close up and heal which it has now done and all the bizzare nerve jolts and tingling sensations have ended. This is a relief as a jolting leg can be quite embarrassing and disruptive when you're trying to work or talking to a client! My leg finally healed leaving an impressive war wound for which I have invented many stories in case I don't want to go into the "you survived cancer, i'm so proud of you have a medal" conversation. After the op everyone kept telling me how well I looked, to which I replied that I had only had a lump of dodgy flesh removed from my leg and groin, it was not an illness but disease prevention for the future and that I w...

I happened to be at home this lunchtime when Mr Dewar rang from the Leeds General Infirmary. The call made me sit up from my post-prandial slump and he sounded positive. I had a follow up appointment in June as I couldn't make the usual 4 week check up. He informed me that the node biopsy was all clear with no sign of spread as was the skin excision margin! This is excellent news and I intend to celebrate with my wife tonight over a bottle of Graham Beck bubbly we purchased in Franshoek for just such an occasion! With faith I had been hoping that the results were all clear, that I had acted fast and caught the cancer before it spread and that I would be all clear to claim a longer life but it's a great feeling to have that confirmed! I ran up the stairs to write a blog post immediately, reminding myself how well my leg is now healing! The scar still feels tight and is healing from the bottom of the split upwards but apart from that I feel like I am back on track. I h...

Athlete Running the Race: Whitby Abbey I am two days post op for malignant melanoma with a large scar in my leg and a tender groin where nodes were removed: now the real work begins in working out my faith and moving forward. (Take a look at my previous blog posts for more on what has happened in the last few days ) Faith is not a passive slumbering thing, it is real and active, coming alive even more in challenging or life threatening circumstances.  Some would say faith is blind (in the past psychologists and atheists described accepting Christian faith as a blind leap) but currently for me it helps clarify what life is all about. Staring mortality in the face is not a popular past-time in modern culture; we are all busy, trying to get comfortable and are constantly reassured by advertising that "we are worth it" and told that we are in control. However it doesn't take much to get a glimpse of the reality lying just beneath the polished veneer of our fragile exist...