One of the most discussed and debated Cancer issues is late diagnosis. Cyberspace is full of disturbing stories and many different cancers are involved. Some cancers are much more difficult to diagnose than others and this increases the need for more awareness campaigns. Neuroendocrine Cancer - also known as Neuroendocrine Tumours, or NETs for short, is one such cancer. Statistics indicate that many patients are initially…
"I'm only as good as my last scan". I received this comment last week in response to one of my posts and I thought it was a very pragmatic thing for someone to say. The timing is good as I'm off for a CT scan later today :-)
A NET patient under surveillance has regular tests at determined intervals but the one that is most likely to indicate disease progression, stability or regression is a scan. Markers…
At a follow-up meeting during my diagnostic phase in July 2010, the specialist who was investigating my referral condition was clearly suspicious that I had cancer but as the results of my liver biopsy were not yet in, he was not in a position to declare his findings. However, following my revelation about flushing during this meeting, he immediately guessed the biopsy would confirm Carcinoid (the most common type of Neuroendocrine…
Go on, climb that hill!
It was wet, windy and very cold and that was at the bottom of the hill I’m looking up at. It wasn’t a terribly big hill but I knew it would still cause me pain. Whilst the rain splashed onto our jackets and the wind howled, Chris and I looked at each other and we both said “do we really want to go up that?” Of course we do……. no pain, no gain! So we went up the hill and it hurt. Up there…
When I was being officially told I had an advanced and incurable cancer, I did what most people seem to do on films/TV ..... I asked "how long do I have". The Oncologist said " ... perhaps just months". That must have been quite a shock because for a few moments after that, I heard nothing - my brain was clearly still trying to process those words. The really important bit I missed was him saying "..…
