As I woke up on Tuesday the 29th I remember being very nervous but also looking forward to my appointment as now I wanted to know what the next step was and when I was going to start receiving the treatment. I got to the hospital half an hour early and checked myself in. I sat in a hot, busy waiting room outside the consultants office waiting for my name to be called. It seemed like everyone who came after me were being called in and I was left waiting. At one point I noticed my file being separated by the nurses which made me question and panic 'Why is my file separated', 'Why I am waiting for so long'. Instead of worrying I went up to the nurse and asked when I was going to be seen and she said that they didn't realised I was checked in even though it said on the form I arrived and that I was waiting there for a while. They immediately went and found a different consultant to the one I was scheduled to see and got me into the room to see the doctor. When she sat me down she started talking about my history and about my pain and scans etc. It felt like she was talking for a while and beating around the bush and I just wanted to know what it was. When the words "Ewing's Sarcoma" left her mouth, I instantly felt sick. I don't know if it was because of the hot and stuffy waiting room, lack of water or the shock of the diagnosis. I prepared myself for it to be Lymphoma but as soon as I heard Ewing's, I felt like 20% of my chances of survival went out of the window. I remained calmed and tried to take in as much as possible. I was then told of the treatment plan:
- 4 days of chemotherapy for each session every 3 weeks for 6 sessions in total.
- A surgery to remove the damaged and cancer infected part of my pelvis.
- 2 months of physiotherapy.
- Further 6 months of less intensive chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
Before the treatment could start there were a few tests I also had to do to check if the cancer had spread and if my body could cope with the chemotherapy. The following tests were done immediately after the appointment:
- Chest CT scan as this is the place the Ewing's Sarcoma usually spreads to.
- Whole body bone scan. This involves being injected with a radioactive substance, having to drink a litre of water and walk around for 2 hours. Then you are placed in this machines machine which scans your body and takes about 20 minutes. After my head and chest were scanned, I looked to my right and I could see my body taking shape as it was being scanned. It was really interesting to see as The Ewings Sarcoma was clearly displayed around my pelvis area on scan and from what I could see there there was nothing else displayed on the scan which made me feel really relieved.
Annoyingly, I was told that the results of these tests were not going to be available until Friday the 1st June...
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