The Past, The Present And The Future (Part I)

Number of years since I got ill: 3
Number of months since I finally finished treatment: 7
Number of months since I was told there was no sign of the cancer: 1 & 1/2
Number of months/years I will remain cancer free: unknown

Now that the news of being pronounced cancer free has finally started to sink in, I am finding myself thinking more and more about everything that has happened to me over the past 3 years: what I have been through in that time, how having cancer is affecting my life now, and what influence it might have on my future.

The Past

It has been 3 years to the day this weekend since I first became ill and over that time so much has happened, as this timeline shows:

Aug 05 - developed chronic lower abdominal pain, which lead to several spells at hospital for diagnosis
Sep 05 - had an ultra-sound scan which showed a 10cm cyst on my right ovary, and then emergency surgery 2 hours later to remove it
Nov 05 - went back to the hospital after increasing pain following the surgery
Dec 05 - had an ultra-sound scan which showed another large cyst on my right ovary
Jan 06 - had surgery to remove the cyst and my right ovary
Feb 06 - was called in by the hospital and told I had ovarian cancer
Mar 06 - had a CT scan to check for cancer spread
Apr 06 - was told the cancer was in the early stages and hadn't obviously spread, but was aggressive so I needed chemotherapy treatment. Started a course of IVF treatment to freeze embryos in case the chemotherapy made me infertile
May 06 - completed the course of IVF, and had a laparoscopy to make absolutely certain the cancer hadn't spread
Jun 06 - started a 6 treatment cycle of Carboplatin chemotherapy
Oct 06 - finished chemotherapy
Nov 06 - had my first check-up: everything looked clear
Feb 07 - had my second check-up, plus a CT scan: everything looked clear
Apr 07 - had my third check-up: CA125 levels had started to rise
May 07 - repeated my CA125 blood test: levels had risen even more
Jun 07 - had an ultra-sound scan which showed a 5cm tumour had grown around my womb, followed by a pelvic MRI scan to check for further spread
Jul 07 - was told there were no further visible tumours and had surgery to remove the tumour around my womb, which was thankfully done without needing a hysterectomy
Aug 07 - started a 6 treatment cycle of Taxol-Carboplatin chemotherapy
Sep 07 - discovered I was pregnant with twins but that the pregnancy wasn't viable, and subsequently had a forced miscarriage
Jan 08 - finished chemotherapy
Feb 08 - had head and pelvic MRI scans to check for signs of the cancer. Saw my oncologist for the results and was told there were signs the cancer may have spread to my bowel
Jun 08 - had a repeat pelvic MRI scan to confirm whether or not the cancer had spread
Jul 08 - it was confirmed that the bowel spots were endometriosis, not cancer

Phew! Although it looks a lot, I feel quite flippant writing about the last 3 years of my life like that - it seems too easy just to list everything down in comparison to the struggle it took to actually get through it all. Perhaps a couple of facts would help to set it in context:

I have:
- spent at least 12 hours under anaesthetic having operations to remove nasty bits of cancer, and to scope out any places it might be lurking
- had around 20 lots of imaging (MRI scans, CT scans, ultra-sounds and x-rays), which is a lot of radiation!
- spent more than 50 hours having chemotherapy administered - that's over 2 days solid
- had over 130 appointments at the hospital, which is one everyday for over 4 months
- spent over 80 hours in waiting rooms, which is an estimated average as waiting times for appointments ranged from 15 minutes to 8 hours!
- spent around £1000 on car parking charges
- missed 17 & 1/2 months of wages through being off work sick

I think that really shows just how much the hospital has dominated my life for the past 3 years. It has been an all-consuming battle that is continuing even now...