A Cancer Journey.
It started On December 15th 2017 when I was diagnosed with stomach cancer, and my last ongoing medical appointment was on March 16th 2019. That is 446 days. This was followed up by and ‘check up’ CT scan mid July of that year. Then ongoing was a CT scan every year for 5 years.
Mid-January 2018 there was a small operation to insert a ‘port’ in my chest, just under the skin. This is where they ‘plug in’ the chemo tube. This saved having to insert an i.v.needle every time.
My ‘journey’ was in three chapters. Chapter one was the lead-up to the mid-July operation, and was made up of a three-visit routine. A full day of chemo’. This also involves fitting a chemo drug pump, to the port at the end of the day. This drip-fed the rest of the chemo drugs for 24 hours. As the port was internally connected to my Jugular vein, my heart became the ‘pump. 2nd was a visit to another hospital, luckily just down the road from where we lived, to have the pump removed. Lastly, a week later there was a visit to have an oncology assessment check up on things and usually have a blood test. Then another week later the 3 visits start over again. The weirdest effect of the many chemo treatments was after one particular session I lost my speech, well, not so much lost as when trying to talk all my words were slurred like I had consumed a lot of alcohol. This lasted for about 3 hours. One time when I got home I could not stop shaking. This however lasted about 2 hours.
In mid-July an ECG showed that my heart may not be strong enough for such a major operation. So 4 weeks of intense physiotherapy my heart had built up enough to get the ‘all clear’ for the op’. Then the second chapter. On July 22nd 2018 I had the operation [8 hours +], was in the post-op’ intensive care unit for two days, and then recovery ward for another 10 days. It was going to be 2 weeks but I had made such a good recovery they sent me home early.
And then the third Chapter was the same 3 visit schedule all over again until mid-January 2019. Intermixed with this was the occasional CT scan, blood test and assessments. 8 weeks later in March, the chemo’ port was removed and my journey came to an end.
In conclusion, what did the operation involve? My stomach and spleen were totally removed and my lower intestine was ‘converted’ into a stomach. [Isn’t medical science incredible]. This means I have to eat very small meals and take a multivitamin table every day. I Have lost 1/3 of my pre-op weight and have to check my weight once a month and report in if I regularly lose weight. It has not happened yet.
And what did all this cost? Absolutely nothing and no expensive health insurance was needed. I find I get annoyed with folks who complain about our free health system here when if you are really unwell and have a life-threatening illness you will be looked after and I was. All the staff, nurses, doctors and specialists were all wonderful and there was not one thing that I could complain about. Not bad for 59 appointment visits over 5 different hospitals.