I received this morning the letter which follows an oncologist appointment. It is as I have always suspected: that I didn't have much cancer. My right and middle lung lobes - the ones I had removed - showed adenocarcinoma (a type of cancer that develops in the airways and is associated with cells that make phlegm) which was "very minimal, less than 5% of the lesion completely excised".
In other words the cancer in the lung itself was very small. I always thought this was the case because by the time I was starting chemotherapy my lungs had almost completely recovered their function and my coughing had stopped. It's quite nice to be proved right.
On a pertinent topic and one which has been in the news recently, about the standard of communication in the NHS of doctors without English as their first language, the medical secretary has for the third time (even after I pointed it out to her the first time!) typed "hyperthyroid" as opposed to what I am which is "hypothyroid". And* the pentultimate sentence of the letter lacks two words, one of which is a verb. Luckily the meaning is still clear.
*My late business partner said there were occasions where using "and" at the beginning of a sentence was OK - and he should know as he had a Cambridge MA in English. On this occasion the meaning is perfectly clear and as I'm talking in a style like normal speech, I feel I am entitled to break the rule.
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