Mum's journey began before she even new it. She had problems with her digestive system in 2004, her GP diagnosed IBS and treated her for it for the next 2 years. No tests were done. Mum kept going back to the doctors and they kept treating her for IBS as her problems got worse.
After a disastrous holiday in Portugal where she was very ill on the flights both ways and for the most of the holiday (she assumed she had food poisening or a tummy bug) she went back to the doctors in Sept 2006, She happened to see a different doctor this time. On reviewing the history and her recent problems she was immediately referred to a Gynaecologist but at a hospital an hours drive from home rather than at our local hospital.
They suspected she had Ovarian cancer but didn't say anything. The referral took a few weeks and after lots of blood tests and various scans and some draining of the fluid on her abdomen, they diagnosed a Neuro endocrine Cancer. It's a rare cancer so they didn't know much about it but said it was slow growing but terminal. She probably had another 3 to 5 years before she died.Mum took the news philisophically, she had a few bad days whe she was upset and got cross wioth various people but she coped and she had her family and the church for support. It was just before Christmas 2006.
They tried to find the right Consultant to refer her to and she was transferred to an Oncologist at another Hospital in early 2007, this time only 45 minutesfrom home, They continued to drain her abdoment every few weeks at the first hospital. She was feeling reassured, she understood why she had been feeling so ill and something was being done about it.
The fluid on Mums abdoment was ascites and after a few weeks of the bloating starting Mum had the appearance of a woman who was 9 months pregnant +. They were draining up to 17 litres of fluid off her abdomen every few weeks. Eventually they managed to get the Ascites under control using spiralactone, it was now spring 2007 and the next stage of treatment was about to start. Mum had opted to join a drug trial knowing that it might help people with NET cancer in the future.
