Dear friends, it has been a little time since I put thoughts to virtual pen & paper. There has been a lot of activity within this time which I will tell you about, but firstly a picture of right now.

As I lie in bed exhaustion pervades my body and a feeling of great calm after the storm. I’ve just finished my first cycle of a new chemo. My doctor has told me that from a medical point of view there are no more treatment options and this will only extend my life by a matter of around twelve months.. I have taken this option as the tumors in my liver have been growing ever closer to essential veins and arteries and the chemo may keep them from growing or hopefully shrink them. Needs Must eh!? Regardless I feel like everything is going to turn out as it should. I am learning to let go, trust, and allow my story to unfold. I may die but I may not.. life is unpredictable and surprising. I have hope.

I find that as long as I am making positive steps towards health in a practical sense, that I can keep myself from becoming overwhelmed by my situation. I am eating a plant based diet, using key supplements and I have a schedule which includes lots of ‘grounding’. I regularly partake in incredible bush walks, putting my feet in the wet sand at the beach, making pizzas with my three year old niece, philosophical conversations with my dad and all the best entertainment Sydney has to offer with my partner and friends. I have bought an infrared sauna and trampoline & use resistance bands regularly to maintain strength and fitness. Soon I will be doing yoga again!

From a medical point of view, I have sent tumor samples to a lab in Germany. The lab is called NextGen and they are at the cutting edge of cell analysis. They work in tandem with a clinic in Vienna called Kleef clinic who I am in consultation with and this will hopefully allow me to receive a more targeted treatment. The Kleef Clinic also specialise in hyperthermia which I believe works along the same lines as infrared, heating up and cooling down the cells from their core.

I am also in consultation with MoST trials at The Garvan Institute here in Sydney who undertake clinical trials. They perform molecular screening of cells using a person’s tumor samples and offer targeted therapies that correspond to a persons gene mutations.

Either could present a lifeline to me or open up my knowledge to explore further areas of treatment. I wish I had access to these options a year ago before all of the surgery that did not go according to plan… speaking of which..

I had some more surgery last June. Around the time I found my abdomen becoming more and more swollen over the course of two months until finally I went to the emergency department at the hospital. The doctors ordered a CT scan and discovered a tumor on my left ovary the size of a large grapefruit. It was 13 cm in length and had ruptured. I was told that I was very lucky to have survived the rupture and could have bled to death. Emergency surgery was scheduled at which my surgeon removed both ovaries including the tumor and drained fifteen litres of fluid from my abdomen. I cant tell you how uncomfortable it was to go from my normal body shape, to looking like a nine month pregnant woman in the course of two months! The surgery went very well and I am grateful for having had access to it so quickly! Thank you to my surgical team and the Australian health care system! Apparently this type of tumor is rare and only occurs from the primary tumor in the bowel.

Ok, enough medical stuff! To be honest I am so sick of talking about cancer that I refuse to engage in any conversation about it. I have made a blanket rule amongst family and friends. ‘Don’t ask me because I wont answer you’. Life is waaaaaay too short to spend my time endlessly explaining.. bla bla

Music!! My sweet friend music

My website has received a pimp & I’m so pleased with its style and elegance! Many thanks to Jo’ Paul Mamuyac for all your work. Have a sneaky peak here:

elizajaye.co.uk

I am spending my time making plans for my new, as yet unreleased album called ‘Middle Child’.

We have settled on the design for the cover and this week I am getting it mastered in Tasmania by Grammy Award Winning mastering engineer William Bowden.

Thank you to everybody that keeps sending me the good vibes and well wishes. I feel so blessed to have such a crew as you, from across the world all gunning for my return to health and supporting my strength, happiness and of course music. We will get there soon enough..

Until then, enjoy the party

All my love Eliza

xxx

How could the soul not take flight

When from the glorious Presence

A soft call flows sweet as honey,

And whispers, “Rise up now, come away.”

How could the fish not jump

Immediately from dry land into water,

When the sound of water from the ocean

Of fresh waves springs to his ear?

How could the hawk not fly away,

Back, back, to the wrist of the kind

As soon as he hears the drum

The kingÂ’s baton hits again and again,

Drumming out the signal of return?

How could the Sufi not start to dance,

Turning on himself, like the atom in the sun of eternity,

So he can leap free of this dying world?

Fly away, fly away, bird, to your native home.

You have leaped free of the cage,

Your wings are flung back in the wind of God.

Leave behind the stagnant and marshy waters,

Hurry, hurry, hurry, O bird, to the source of life!

– Jalal-ud-Din Rumi