Even having had ulcerative colitis for a number of years, I'd never spent as much time in hospitals as I was about to. The results from the biopsies were the beginning of making my local hospital, and further down the line other hospitals, my second home.
I visited the hospital the day after Dr Chopra called me, just so she could speak to my wife and I face-to-face and hand me over to the oncology department. It's the first time I've seen my wife cry, it was heartbreaking. It became even more real at that moment. We still only had the results of the biopsies, but that was soon to change.
A CT scan was booked in for the 24th November and I was to have an MRI straight after. A word to the wise, if the same ever happens to you, make sure you go to the toilet inbetween scans. I had to drink water before the CT to help push my bladder out of the way so they could get a clearer image of my pelvis, all fine as the scan only takes a couple of minutes. The MRI though takes a lot longer. Holding my bladder for 45 minutes was excruciating. Won't be doing that again. Then it was a waiting game for a week until my first proper meeting with the oncologist for the results.
A week later I was hoping to be given a staging for my cancer, but that was wishful thinking. The CT scan had thrown up something on my liver. It might be nothing, or it might be a sign the cancer has spread beyond just my rectum. More waiting, more worrying, more dread.
