2 days after the oncology registrar dumped the news about my liver lesion to me cold, over the telephone, I had my consenting appointment with the radiotherapy consultant. He had access to the same information as oncology, and was somewhat bemused. I had no lymph node involvement at the time of my breast surgery. At the time of the scan, all the nodes around breast and liver appear clear. So it’s not got there via the usual breast to node to node to liver route. Immaculate conception. I asked about the possibility of it getting out through vascular invasion which is apparently quite unusual. So I am also bemused. The assumption is it’s a TNBC secondary. It leaves open the possibility it is not actually cancer, or that it’s a co-incidental primary cancer of the liver. There’s also a probably benign tumour on my adrenal gland that needs investigating
I expected time to be of the essence in researching a probable secondary. I do have an appointment for an MRI, but it’s not until early November. I don’t yet have an appointment for a PET scan and have been told there is a backlog. I find this wholly unsatisfactory. I don’t blame the hospital, just this awful government that has starved the NHS of resources over its 12 years in power. Should have been careful what I wished for when I wanted Boris the breast cancer gone. I now have Liz in my liver.
I see the oncology consultant on the 31st and will try to understand the possibilities and the likely course of action for each scenario. I may also arrange a private PET scan as I am privileged to have the personal resources to do so. I can’t do that as at the moment I don’t know precisely what sort of scan is needed, the options are wider than I expected. Meanwhile the final Paclitaxel is on board. The dose reduction has kept the neuropathy to manageable levels.
I have a decision to take about radiotherapy. I have given consent and have my planning appointment on the 1st November. I had hoped to know by then if I have a secondary (in which case management of that is the priority) but am not likely to know much more, so will probably go ahead.
