Hi,
Six years ago, my partner's breast cancer returned, having metastasised to her lungs. Since then, Palbociclib, Letrozole, monthly blood tests, regular CT scans and no side effects meant living a healthy and active life. Then, a couple of months ago, she began to experience back pain, radiating to her ribs and chest. She was told categorically by her oncology team that it was unrelated to the cancer. Painkillers and physiotherapy made no difference to the symptoms and on her next appointment with her oncology team they arranged for some MRI scans. These revealed Metastatic Spinal Cord Compression and a large brain tumour. This prompted an immediate admission to hospital. A fortnight ago, she received radiotherapy to the spinal cord tumour, and this week is having a left posterior fossa craniotomy to remove the brain tumour.
In a matter of a few months, she has gone from living an active life of cycling, gardening and yoga to being almost completely immobilized by pain, unable to walk unaided from bed to bathroom. She describes it as falling over a cliff.
I knew the day would come when being a partner would turn into that of being a carer. However, the speed with which our simple happy life has been completely replaced with one of nothing but pain and suffering has been shocking. She has had to surrender her driving license and retire from work. Our future looks very different from how it did a very short time ago.
I have no family and very few friends. The lack of care or support from my partner’s family and friends has resulted in a huge adjustment to her relationships. Whilst I am managing each new challenge, SO much is changing in such a short space of time that I’m beginning to feel overwhelmed by the speed of it all. Christmas is her favourite time of year and the possibility of this being her last is simply unbearable .
