Can't believe it's been just over a week since we were told my partner of 13 years had cancer.
It all started a couple of months ago when he started to get stomach pains. We started to do research and cut out wheat - at the time he was really fed up about not being able to eat pizza. To be able to go back there would be amazing.
He went to the doctor and they suggested laxatives which didn't help at all - next satge was a blood test. This came back normal, apart from the 'start of liver damage' - we put this down to the occassional binge drinking sessions which, as a couple in our early 30s we are sometimes guilty of. We decided to give up alcohol for a while.
A wait of over a month for an ultrasound scan followed - pain didn't seem to get worse. I asked him if he wanted me to go with him to the ultasound but he said it wouldn't be worth it - thought it would be boring and expected allergy tests to be the next stage. However, at the ultrasound, the nurse picked up on something and called the doctor. He suggested a CT straight away.
I came home when he called to tell me what had happened - the hospital said that the results would be with the doctor that afternoon. Called the surgery several times - eventually the GP called to report that the ultraound had shown 'lumps on the liver' and that he'd call back if the CT came back. We sat there in shock and fear then insisted on an appointment with the GP.
He examined my partner and explained that an urgent appointment would be made with the hospital to see a specialist. In shock, we called our parents and spent a weekend crying and trying to focus on what else it could be.
Monday morning, the GP called - the CT result had come back, showing a lesion on the colon. I think I knew at that point what that met. A week of waiting for the hospital appointment followed.
When we arrived at the hospital, we saw a cancer nurse, who told us that the CT had also shown spots on the lungs. The consultant told me that we were 'clutching at straws' to think it was anything else. He got admitted and they redid the CT.
The following day he had the biopsy and a stent inserted. The next day we were told that the cancer was incurable.
