|
|
| Appointments: | 09-May-02 | 16-May-02 | 21-May-02 | 23-May-02 | 28-May-02 |
| 9
MAY 2002 St. Peters Hospital - Nuclear Medicine Department |
|
I was sent to St. Peters Hospital (again!) for an Isotope Bone Scan. For this you have to have an injection of a radioisotope into a vein. You have to wait three hours for this to go around your body then back to the hospital for the scan. The scans are sent direct to the consultant. Well typical of me huh, I didn't have one injection but two. One in the elbow area and one on the wrist (painful!). Then I had to go away for three hours and wait for it to go around my body. Three hours later, back again. Had to lie on a table and have this huge camera taking piccies of my legs. They also asked about my shoulder as I also had problems moving my arms at this stage. I think it was due to the pain from leg which had made me tense and I had pulled a muscle getting up from the sofa one day. My arm and side ached constantly. I moved like an old lady. |
| 16
MAY 2002 Woking Nuffield Hospital - Mr Kevin Newman |
|
By this time, I was walking with a stick and was using any handy person to help me on the other side! He said obviously you are much worse and waited patiently for me to get to his consulting room. My mum was with me and went back to the Waiting Room for me. He asked if that was my Mum, and suggested it may be better if she stayed. At this stage I knew it was bad news! I'm a lifelong Casualty watcher remember! I know that the big black mass on the bone scan was something serious. He said he had shown my x-rays to other radiologists and they had confirmed that it was not a fracture as first suspected. He said I had a possible tumour in my bone. He had no idea if it was benign or malignant and referred me to another consultant, this time in Park Street, London. It was very quick, today was Thursday and I was due to see Mr Timothy Briggs on Tuesday at 8.15am. Is the quickness something else to worry about I wondered? I was also given a walking frame (yes, a Zimmer at my age!!) and was told not to walk too far and to rest as much as possible. John said if I rest any more I'd be comatose!! I was also given some extremely strong painkillers as the pain is so bad I just don't know what to do with my whole body sometimes, let alone the leg. Even the slightest touch makes me flinch, poor Bertie doesn't know what is happening, he brushes against me and it hurts like hell and he's not seen a Zimmer frame before! Cancer - such a shock. What are you supposed to say or do. Am I supposed to break into floods of tears? Do I shout and scream? It's a weird feeling and it's even worse telling people as no-one really knows what to say or do. All sorts of things are going through my head. cancer ('kaensa) The above is what the dictionary terms "cancer". Some of it feels very true, the evil influence that spreads dangerously, the uncontrolled cell division. It's like a creeping virus that is working it's way through my body. |
| 21
MAY 2002 Park Street, London - Mr Timothy Briggs |
|
Consultation with Mr Briggs. By this time I had lots of x-rays and scans, a whole folder full - all of which I took with me. He had a look at all of them and examined both my legs and asked me lots of questions regarding my treatment to date and any other related incidents. He mentioned that I might need an operation where they would take out part of my bone, replace this with a metal plate and replace my knee. The thought of this scared me to death and I was hoping it wouldn't be needed. He said to continue walking with the frame and not walk without it. If I broke my leg (the cancer has made it so weak) he would kill me. Sounded quite nasty but for my own good. If it breaks it would delay any treatment I needed. He referred me to Harley Street for an MRI scan. |
| 23
MAY 2002 Open MRI of Harley Street - London |
|
This scan involved three injections (two failed - my soon to be infamous fine veins are to blame again). I was not told that I would need an injection, but apparently my consultant had requested it to enhance the scans. (Mr Briggs you are not my favourite person at the moment!). I would obviously need to have words with this man on my next consultation! It involved lying on a long table, under a scanner that made loud pinging noises. However I did have some nice "chill out" music playing. You have to remain STATIC all the time and not move. I had about eight scans taken from memory. Varying from 30 seconds to about five minutes. The results would be faxed through to Mr Briggs the next day. |
| 28
MAY 2002 Park Street, London - Mr Briggs (again!) |
|
By the time the results had been faxed through to Mr Briggs (24 hours!) it was time for my follow up appointment. He referred me to the National Orthopedic Hospital, Stanmore for further tests. This time a CT Scan (to check if there were tumours in my chest as they usually start elsewhere) and also a Needle Biopsy. This last one frightened me. I hate needles and to think of one going into my bone was rather worrying to say the least. I went into panic mode each time I had to see him in case they did it there and then! |
