Last year my mother complained of an ulcer in her mouth. I have her bonjela and thought nothing of it. Weeks went by and it Stoll hadn't gone away so i took her to the doctors. The doctor looked at the back of her throat and gave her some spray. Didn't even look at the ulcer on the tongue. The next day i asked if i could have a look. I took a lollipop stick and looked at the side of her tongue. Straight away i could see what it was. The ulceration had grown and was now protruding from her tongue. This was no ulcer. I sat there for a moment and said "mam you need to go back to the GP im so sorry but it looks like cancer". Can you even imagine having to tell your mother she had cancer.
We went back to the gp over a week after because we couldn't get an appointment. i had to tell them what i had found and it took two doctors to agree. They referred her to a head and neck specialist and she was given surgery to remove the large tumour from her tongue. Taking away half her tongue. Splitting open her jaw and putting it back together with a metal plate. I have never seen something so horrific in all my life and it still haunts me to this day. She was a mess. Drains coming out of her. Staples in her chin and around her neck from where they removed lymph nodes. They also removed all her teeth.
She contracted pneumonia not long after and ever since she has been unable to breathe properly. She stayed in hospital for 2 months and then came home and began radiotherapy to kill the remaining cells. During this time she was no better. Still couldn't breath properly. Still weak in herself.
Roll on march 2016 and she has a scan which tells us her cancer has spread to her lower lung. Back to radiotherapy for the next week or so. During this time she also had a polyp removed so had to delay one appointment. Over the past few months she has got worse and worse. Unable to do anything for herself. Can barely walk. Can barely breathe. Seven months later and we are still waiting for a return appointment to see the oncologist.
She began having headaches a few weeks ago so we pushed to have a scan and now we are being told the cancer has spread to her liver,her upper lung and her skull. What do we do now? We have no support and i am at a loss :(
