SARONG

No, we're not all going down to the beach, sorry to disappoint! SARONG or Surveillance After Resection of Oesophageal aNd Gastric cancer, is a very exciting and new National trial, being led by Dr Sheraz Markar and Mr Rich Owen, of the very capable Churchill hospital Upper GI team of surgeons.  

The trial has begun across the UK, randomising patients following oesophageal and gastric cancer resection to either intensive surveillance, CT and clinical follow up every 6 months for 3 years, and endoscopy at 12 months, or standard clinical follow up at 6 and 12 months.  This very important work is set to change how patients receive after care, providing more support, reassurance and further timely treatment in the unlikely event it is needed.  

OOSO has been invited to participate on the project board, so periodically we'll keep you updated on how the trial is progressing. If you are a patient leading up to surgery and you are not aware of SARONG, you may wish to discuss this trail with your surgeon.

Café catch-up

Just this week we held our first of hopefully many 'café catch-up's', at the Yarnton Home & Garden centre just north of Oxford. Eight of us turned out for a lively lunch and hearty chat - it was really good to catch up! Some of us meeting for the first time, making new friends and sharing our stories, it was a fun 2 hours. 

We plan to hold another catch-up quite soon, this time at the Frosts Garden Centre in Woburn Sands on Monday 10th October from 12.30pm. Garden centres are accessible with free parking and shopping options!  If Fosters is convenient for you and you'd like to join us, then please drop me a line here.
 
Looking ahead, we can schedule café catch-up's at locations near you - please just drop me a line with suggestions. 

Zoom ahoy!

Our upcoming group zoom session will take place next Tuesday 4th October at 7pm. We're honoured to have an impressive panel of experts joining us for the Q&As, including Bruno Sgromo, Liz Ward, Rich Owen and Sheraz Markar.

Here's a snapshot of our agenda:

• Charity update
• Acid reflux and Proton Pump Inhibitors (PPI) - Dr Sheraz Markar
• Public & Patient Involvement (PPI !!) - with former patient Tom Doust
• General Q&A's with Bruno, Liz, Rich, and Sheraz 

The Zoom invite/link will be circulated by Friday this week to all our zoom regulars. If you haven't signed up and would like to join this and future meetings just drop me a line here.  We look forward to seeing you next week - don't miss it!