I want to write this blog firstly to get things of my chest and secondly to share our story as I think it will inspire others.
I think I should start at the beginning. I am married to the most amazing women. I met her nearly seventeen years ago and we have been happily married for 5 1/2 years. She has suffered from Cystic Fibrosis since she was diagnosed at the age of 3. Back in 2008 she became more and more ill and the hospital stays got longer and longer. She was then put on the transplant list as this was our last hope.
On October 18th 2010 at 7pm we got the call to say there were a set of lungs for my wife. We drove to the hospital and she had a life saving operation. It was a long road but we were over joyed that this would be a new start at life. There were a few complications along the way to recovery but things were looking up. My wife went back to work in a job she enjoyed, we went on holiday abroad for the first time since our honeymoon and everything was looking great.
On one of her regular check ups at hospital (she needs these as she takes lots of drugs for the CF and transplant) they found a shadow on her liver scan. She was then referred to Bart's for a scan and tests. Two weeks later we went to see the Oncologist and she was diagnosed with cancer. The particular type is secondary liver, primary bowel cancer. This was a kick in the teeth as we were just starting to enjoy life again.
Everything just seems to go over your head after that. As the doctor was speaking I could just feel my face go red, my eyes welled up and I had a ringing in my ears. This couldn't be happening. My wife was amazing, she just said ok, what's the next coarse of action. She was going to fight this like she did the CF. Seven cycles of Chemo over three months followed. She'd go to the hospital every eleven days for four to five hours attached to a drip. She was then sent home with a 46hrs infusion. While she was on the Chemo she was tired and slept most of the time. It got worse the longer she was on it.
Three months passed and it was time to see to Oncologist again, this was terrifying I'll tell you. God knows what was going through my wife's head, because I didn't know how to bring up the subject. I guess I was just hoping for the best. Well it wasn't great news. The doctor told us it was inoperable. This is their terminology for terminal. Same again, blood rushes to your head, your eyes begin to well up and your ears begin to ring. I don't remember much after that. I remember him talking timescales and palliative care. She has been given 2 to 3 years. It was all to much, I could not even look at my wife for fear of crying my eyes out. But I couldn't I need to be there for her, after all that's what I vowed to do.
A few weeks ago my wife started to go off her food, we just assumed that it was the effects of the cancer, as she had been pretty much symptomless up to this point. It got worse over a couple of days and then she called me at work and said she was feeling very poorly, she was in a lot of pain in her stomach and had a temperature of 38.8. She had rang Bart's and they told her to get straight to out local A&E as she might have a perforated bowel. This is what we did.
The local hospital diagnosed her with a Cyst on her stomach that was causing a fluid build up. They put a drain in her side to drain the fluid and sent us home a week later. We then went to see her oncologist who then sent her to have the Cyst removed. She was admitted to The Royal London Hospital for this op. Unfortunately my wife was high risk and they were not sure she was well enough to operate. So we had to wait to see if they could get her healthy enough. The problem is that as a CF sufferer she struggles to keep weight on and she hadn't had a square meal in weeks. She was also post transplant and this meant two lots of major surgery in as many years.
The wait for a decision was excruciating. But In the end they operated, what a relief this was. before this my was talking about settling her affairs and how she couldn't go like this. It was all so terrifying. She is currently experiencing complications post op, but we hope to have her home soon. On a good note, while they had her open they took all the bowel cancer. I am not sure what this means when it comes to life expectancy but I hope it is good news. On the down side, the Cyst was attached to her ovaries so she has had an Hysterectomy and she now has a Stoma bag as they took some of her bowel while removing the bowel cancer. But as I said to my wife if it means more years then it is something we will get past and move on.
I hope that those who tread this will understand that I don't mean for this blog to be all doom and gloom I just want people to know they are not alone. So keep an eye on it for more of our story.
Paul10 x
