27. Alcohol

5th Jan – Sunday

Fermented drinks have been consumed for over 10,000 years. Distillation of alcohol has been around for nearly 2000 years. For some years I even made wine from the vine in our garden. The children trod the grapes initially and later I bought a fruit press. I could only make 3 or 4 bottles a year, but it was fun.

Alcohol has long been used in medicine. Amputation is discussed by Plato and Hippocrates, in the early history the patient would be held down by a number of assistants and be given alcohol (usually rum), as often depicted in war and cowboy films. Later ethanol was discovered as a direct anesthetic. Alcohol also has anti-septic properties used to clean medical equipment, tissue, wounds etc before during and after medical procedures.

In the weeks leading up to Christmas I was suffering from some minor stomach pains, that seem to have been associated with areas of peritoneal metastases. The physical pain was OK, but it was also a constant reminder of my situation, bringing my mood down. Then just before Christmas I restarted chemo and my Christmas and New Year involved a certain amount of alcohol. Coming out of NY I had nearly no pain and I could forget my condition. So alcohol numbs the pain and helps you forget – didn’t we always know that? Isn’t that why there are so many drunks? Cheers! 

I started my second latest chemo cycle just a few days ago, but in the days leading up to that I felt the best I’ve been in months. I think the lung embolisms must have dissolved (maybe in alcohol) and any lung damage started to recover.

A discussion with my oncologist provided more interesting news. It would appear the mass of peritoneal metastases is not usually the killer, but the metastatic nodules I have in along the folds of my small bowel. – the very same ones that prevent HIPEC. These are the ones likely to grow and interfere with bowel operation. But being on the small bowel wall, there is greater chance of them responding to chemo than if they were on the peritoneum (greater blood supply to the bowel = greater chemo supply).  Subsequent investigations on Facebook yielded news that chemo has shrunk small bowel nodules, with at least one patient then becoming eligible for HIPEC.

This news has certainly meant I am not so worried that PIPAC seems to be dragging heals over the break. I hope to hear next week now, but I am also back on Avastin which will prevent surgery within 6 weeks. But I’m not bothered about that – I think we can give chemo a chance to get the stuff from the inside, then turn to PIPAC to get it from the outside. Surround it – just like a war or cowboy film.

But the big question – was my homemade wine any good?

I gave up at what I considered my peak.  My university friends and family get together before Christmas each year, we hire a large house, we eat and we drink. One year, towards the end of a meal, I placed my wine, disguised in a re-used retail bottle, upon the table. It was drunk and no one said anything. That was my peak – no comments.