1. Finding Out

28 April 2019 – Sunday

So it seems there is payback for a life of abusing your body with fizzy drinks, pasties, saveloys, bacon sandwiches, cooked breakfasts, lunch-time processed meat sandwiches, etc. Maybe I should have eaten more greens.

So I found out on Friday that I have Stage 3 Bowel Cancer. Bowel cancer ranges from Stage 1 to 4 – 1 has just started, 4 the cancer has moved to other organs. For the moment the kids don’t know – it’s A level exam time shortly

At the beginning of March I had a touch of what I thought was food poisoning. Not a problem I thought, 24 hours without solid food to flush it out. A week later it was still there and was beginning to hurt. After two weeks I booked in to see the doctor. He requested some blood tests and a stool test too. Before I could get to be appointment to have blood taken the pain was so bad I went to A&E. They ran a blood test, with the result of nothing interesting, and sent me home. At the appointment with the GP the blood test showed nothing interesting and the stool test was negative for blood too, so he decided to send me for a colonoscopy.

Before getting to the colonoscopy appointment I saw some blood on the toilet paper.

Then at what I thought was to be the colonoscopy a nurse just asked about symptoms, while I waited for her to discuss those with the consultant I had expected to see (I have still never seen this consultant, he must be very good as he is soooo busy).

The result was the booking for a CT scan (Good Friday) and a colonoscopy (last Friday).

CT Scan – no problem – had the first when I was knocked off my bike by a car in 2012. The physicist in me is always interested. Appointment came and went – no results.

Then onto bowel preparation for the colonoscopy – this was not as bad as I had been led to believe by various sources. Firstly I think I must have been lucky and given a “tasty” laxative – lemon flavour – 3 of them over 12 hours. TBH – the flavour wasn’t bad.

Colonoscopy time – I could never be gay – apart from the fact that no one would want to go near my arse, having something rammed up your rear was rather unpleasant.

The scan showed a large, nasty tumour. I didn’t think it looked good on the screen, but no-one said anything. Then off to get another CT scan – no one said why. Then the missus is called in for the results – that’s when you know it’s bad news. “Nasty tumour, no doubt malignant, spread to a few lymph nodes, not to other organs.” They never said it but research says that is stage 3B or 3C. Survival rate, if lucky 50% after 5 years. Stage 4 is only around 15%.

Next steps – there is a Multi Disciplinarily Team meeting on Tuesday where there discuss cases. The nurse that heads up that team suggested I may get a slot on the agenda – hmmm – may.  Possibly steps would be surgery then chemo, or chemo to shrink, then surgery. If discussed, and if they can fit me in.

My next steps are to push for discussion and find out my private options. I’ve already started eating Purple Things and self-medicating Aspirin (medical evidence for both preventing cancer, and some evidence for slowing the spread).

And also – bugger – Royal Mail hasn’t delivered my gasket paste so I can’t refit the gearbox into the Mustang. That was this weekend’s task, so that if surgery or anything else starts, at least the Mustang will not be left immobile…..

Also please see the Funeral Song link.

And a reminder – at the moment the kids don’t know.