Yesterday the postman brought me two letters; one contained my blood test results of last week, which I’d been broadly informed about earlier by my GP, but which came as a bit of a shock just the same. I knew that two tumor markers were elevated – but until yesterday I didn’t know which ones (namely CA125 at 42.1 units/ml and CEA at 281 ng/ml).

Additionally, serum ferritin also turned out high (438 ng/ml). Interestingly, the symptoms resulting from high ferritin levels are those that I’m suffering from, most notably “pain throughout the body”, caused by deposition of excess iron in the body.

Tumor markers alone cannot serve as a screening test to diagnose cancer (just imagine how miraculous that would be!), because various other factors can cause levels of these proteins to rise (just one example: smokers tend to have higher CEA levels than non-smokers – please don’t beat me up over this!). Other diagnostic measure are needed. OK, let me rephrase that: I need other diagnostic measures! And that’s where the second bad news of yesterday comes in. Mater Dei Hospital is pleased to inform me that an MRI has been scheduled for me for the 31st January 2011. No appointments yet for CT or isotope bone scan.

Necessity:

Where cancer is concerned, we are constantly bombarded with the advice how early detection is paramount for a possible cure. At the slightest suspicion you should go and see a doctor. They drum it into your head, brainwash you into believing it’s solely up to you to get healing. The message that ultimately sticks in your head – whether that’s intentional or not – is that it’s you who is to blame if you die of cancer. What a bloody farce!

What is luxury?

When I moved to Gozo in 1984, the term ‘luxury’ was redefined in my head. In those days, a television set constituted a luxury, a telephone line. On a more mundane level and in purely random order, ‘Mars’ bars (or any real chocolate, for that matter), deodorant that didn’t reek of toilet cleaner, smoked ham, Swiss cheese… all these were items that were hard to come by and therefore – well, luxuries. (Note on the side: An amenity that has remained a luxury right into today’s technology-governed age is uninterrupted electricity supply (I was blessed with a powercut while writing this post) – but let’s better not go there now!!)

In all honesty, none of these really ever bothered me bad enough to change my mind about living here. Overall, there’s always been a balance in favour of Gozo. However, now life itself is creeping into the equation… Dictionary.com defines luxury as

“a material object, service, etc., conducive to sumptuous living, usually a delicacy, elegance, or refinement of living rather than a necessity.”

Yet here I am, squeezed in a 3+ months waiting loop that could cost me my bare life – never mind any degrees of “elegance” or “refinement” of the same!

Conclusion:

Making a life in Gozo can be a true luxury if ever there was one – and it could well turn out to be the one you’ll crave most but will never afford!

This week, for me, was mainly characterised by waiting. DigitalRev sent me an e-mail this morning – in response to my message bickering about the delay – saying they would ship the parcel today. Was there a public holiday in UK this week?? That’s what they gave as excuse, anyways. Man, I hate waiting!

In the meantime I thankfully found some distraction in work. A while back we had this idea of creating a blog about Gozo. Et voilà: I have great pleasure to announce that yesterday afternoon, at around 5, Discover Gozo was finally born! Our aim is to create more awareness about the island of Gozo, but not necessarily from the viewpoint of a journalist and/or travel writer. It’s not going to be an authoritative guidebook, and the blog posts won’t be written all by me, either. Discover Gozo belongs to the Sales & Marketing team of the Kempinski Hotel San Lawrenz, and each of us will contribute our two cents’ worth. The diversity found in our team – an enchanting mix of “genuine” Gozitans and foreigners – should provide for some interesting insights into the nooks and crannies of this island! In other words, “real” people are talking about the reasons and places they think make Malta’s little sister worth a visit!

So watch that space… while I’m watching my letter box. I’m just dying to lay my hands on my new baby!!