Hi I'm a 61 year old lady married with 2 children and 5 adorable grandchildren who I admit are my world , I own a lady's boutique but the last couple of years I have struggled to work in there myself but have fun ordering the stock and spending the profits on my family !
I had cancer of the cervix in 1986 and had radical surgery and radiation , I was lucky to survive . Since then I have never really been in the best of health due to lack of after care with hrt and etc so over the years have gained many illness such as hypothyroidism, hypoglycemia , osteoarthritis , chronic fatigue syndrome , fibromyalgia etc , however to look at me I look fairly healthy .a couple of years ago I had all the symptoms of MS and had a couple of MRI scans and a lumbar puncture , fortunately it was negative but a large lesion was found on my brain which they said was ischemic small vessel brain disease and also said the MS symptoms were functional neurological disorder .
I had been telling the GP I was breathless for some time but always told it was low iron , fibromyalgia or whatever else .
Then my ferratin was constantly low along with my white blood cells but GP just g ave me iron which I couldn't tolerate so eventually a few months ago when I got to speak to m GP I told her I was having bowel problems from the iron and that my bowel wasn't working how it should be as I have terrible ibs and wasn't getting any warning . She's referred me to a gastrointestinal consultant who I saw in July , he arranged a c t scan of my bowel which I had a couple of weeks later . I then get a call from him to say nothing sinister in the bowl except from radiation damage . However the scan has shown a 2cm nodule on your rt lung , I wasn't expecting that so 2 days later another ct scan with contrast , then appointments sent through over for PET scan, ferratin infusion , lung function and echocardiogram .
As a former nurse I had a feeling what was wrong and saw the consultant and Macmillan nurse last week who told me I also have 2 growths on my mediastinal also on the right side , so now I'm awaiting an Ebus biopsy which they said would be within 10 days so I'm eagerly awaiting that as I was put to get treatment asap and know what I'm up against .
I'm thinking this may have been there a while as I have felt so ill for years but on the other hand it's the last few weeks only that I have stared losing weight and the horrid cold sweats maybe this cloud has a silver lining as if I hadn't had my bowel checked I still wouldn't know I had lung cancer . Also never smoked as when I did my nurse training the first Ward I worked was heart and lung and I vowed never to smoke , mind you made up for it with alcohol but I haven't had a drink for 8 years. Nice to read other posts and wish you all the very best on your own journeys xx
