When my diagnosing specialist suggested I had Neuroendocrine Cancer, he also told me not to go online whilst we awaited the results of the liver biopsy. I completely ignored that and went online! I very quickly discovered why he said that because the Neuroendocrine Cancer information online in 2010 was indeed scary, despite me being a very experienced user of computers and the internet; and despite me being to some extent…
2 years ago today, Chris and I were half way along the 84-mile route of Hadrian's Wall in Northern England. Some people saw this is a charity walk and a chance to make some money for a good cause. However, it was MUCH MORE than that. Much much more.
A few months before this trek, I had come to a crossroads and I was unsure which direction to go. That anguish and a thousand other things were contributing to a degradation…
Most people with an incurable Cancer will go through both good and bad periods. I quite liked a quote by fellow patient Karen who described that as the 'ebb and flow' of living with cancer and said the flow would always return at some point. When I wrote my blog "Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer - it takes guts", that wasn't me being one of those trendy bloggers saying the sort of things people want…
I've mentioned 'luck' a few times in the past month following some more 'cancerversary' milestones - these tend to make me reflect on my experience. Even though I was metastatic at diagnosis, I think of myself as lucky on the basis that my tumours were found by 'chance' or to be more accurate, found following an innocuous set of circumstances. As we know, Neuroendocrine Cancer (NET Cancer), it can sometimes be …
The majority of Neuroendocrine Tumours (NETs) are slow-growing. However, the tumours can be silent (non-functioning) for some years before they start to 'function' and inform you of their presence. Even then, it may take some time to work out the real cause as the symptoms can mimic regular ailments. Moreover, in most cases, the appearance of a functional tumour normally indicates the disease has spread and is now…
