Catch ‘Em by Surprise

2 minute read time.

I’ve had another heavy week of appointments over the last 7 days and not the week I was hoping to have in all honesty. Starting off with the good news though, on Monday I attended my last physio session. I have full range of motion and mobility in my arm and shoulder so no more appointments for me. At least that’s one thing that’s gone to plan.

Tuesday was a different story and the week took a completely different turn. I had a call from my radiotherapy oncologist to let me know my radiotherapy would no longer be going ahead. He had contacted my chemotherapy oncologist to discuss next plans as there were findings on the CT scan I had last Friday. I really didn’t take in much of the phone call after that, more concerned that my radiotherapy wasn’t happening now and that I had already told the chemo ward not to prep my meds for today, but I told him I had a review with my oncologist on Thursday and he said all of the information would be sent to her.

On Thursday, everything seemed to come to a grinding holt. I heard the same information again that I had heard on Tuesday, but something just wasn’t sticking. Far too much information to take in I think. We went through my radiotherapy planning scan results. They found enlarged lymph nodes in my chest leading up to my neck which were 99.9% cancerous by the size of them. There were also anomalies on my liver and I have managed to fracture my chest bone which they think has been caused by the cancer getting into my bones. Being told you have a high probability of your cancer coming back within 12 months, then finding out 5 weeks later its back in at least 3 places is a killer. Literally.

The positive news is that the cancer is controllable at the moment with the chemotherapy that I’m already on, so today I went and picked up my second cycle of Capecitabine. I think now this is a forever thing I can stop counting in cycles. This is just it now. Chemo for life. They have increased my daily dose to 2500mg twice a day with the cancer being more widespread in my body while keeping a close eye on my liver functions.

I have a CT scan booked in for the 29th which will confirm my bone cancer and if it is the case it is in my bones, they can give me injections alongside my chemo to keep them strong. With the bank holidays coming up, they won’t take my CT results to MDT until 10th January, so I won’t have any more appointments until after that.

In more stressful news I now only have 4 days till the big day and still not a present has been wrapped. I’ll probably prioritise meals out and Christmas drinks and be crying into my snowball on Friday when nothing is ready. Got to keep it real.

Anonymous