Hi there, my name is Phill, 54 y.o. male. Here is my tale.
One evening felt slightly less than 100%, a rarity for me. I didn't fancy my evening meal, even more rare! Didn't think too much of it, went to bed, woke up in the night with my stomach feeling a little off.
The following morning I got up, had my coffee, went to the toilet, as is my routine and was shocked to see the colour black in the toilet. After 3 more bouts of melaena (I believe that's the technical term) before midday I thought I'd better try and contact my GP. I got my GP to call me and she told me to go to my nearest a&e, they kept me in overnight and arranged for me to have an appointment for a gastrocopy.
I had the gastrocopy with both the throat spray and sedation. I was watching the monitor and saw something odd looking that biopsies were taken from that looked to be oozing a little blood, I guess I assumed it was an ulcer or polyp.
I was left to recover from the sedation and my wife was phoned to come and fetch me. When she arrived we were both taken to a room to be given the result of the gastrocopy. The doctor entered and told us she had found a malignant looking tumour in the top of my stomach, we were both shell-shocked at this news.
Last Thursday I went for a CT TAP scan with contrast and today had an appointment to see an upper gi nurse specialist. The nurse broke the news that the tumour is cancerous. She said the CT appeared to show the cancer hadn't spread and the lymph nodes didn't appear enlarged.
The next step for me is a staging laparoscopy, within the next couple of weeks.
Strangely I haven't felt particularly worried about the cancer itself and it's potential effect on my life, at the moment I'm more worried about the financial implications that an extended period off work will bring.
Anyway, that's my cancer story so far, catch you later,
Phill.
Hi Phill and a very warm welcome to the online community
I'm not a member of this group, as I had a different type of cancer, but thanks very much for taking the time to share your experiences with everyone. I'm sure others who are just starting out on their 'journey' will find this very helpful.
The last thing you want to have to worry about when you're concentrating on treatment and recovery is potential financial implications. You might like to take a look through this information from Macmillan on money, finance and insurance. You can also speak to specialist advisors on such things as welfare rights, financial guidance, work support, etc on the Macmillan Support Line. It's free to call them on 0808 808 0000 and they're generally available Monday to Friday between 8am and 6pm.
When you have a minute it would be great if you could pop something about your diagnosis and treatment so far into your profile as it really helps others when replying to you or looking for someone with a similar diagnosis. It also means that you don't have to keep repeating yourself. To do this click on your username and then select 'Profile'. You can amend it at any time and if you're not sure what to write you can take a look at mine by clicking on my username.
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"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
