Living with cancer for 6 days: My journey as it started.
I am a 55 year old male, that is a paragon of excellent health. At work I never go of sick. I only visit the doctor once a year for a check up. I don't drink any pills, I don't suffer from sugar, cholesterol or any blood pressure problems - but know I have cancer!!
How did I become aware of it?
About three weeks back, when going to bed I experienced an excruciating pain in my lower right hand side of my body, but it went away during the night and the next day I was fine, that is until I went to bed that night when the pain came back again. The next morning I was fine again. The pain never returned.
Over the weekend, I was visiting my brother for the thing we South Africans like the most - a braai. While chatting around the fire, I told them about the pains I had. My wife and sister-in-law then convinced me that I should go see a doctor as they though it could be my appendix!!
Visiting the doctor
Tuesday afternoon, after work, I went to the doctor. She informed me that it is definitely not my appendix. She however went on to give me a general checkup. While pressing on my stomach, she said she is feeling a strange mass inside my abdomen. She was not sure what it was, but said, I should go for a sonar, to check it out. I could only get an appointment the next Thursday morning.
Sonar and CT Scan
So Thursday morning I went for the sonar, and could see the lady doing the sonar, getting a puzzled expression on her face, she kept asking me if I don't feel any pain or anything strange, which I was not feeling at all, I was still feeling great!! She called the radiographer over, which told me I have some swollen glands, and she would send me for a CT Scan the same day, to check out the problem.
So after feeding me some iodine, off I went to the CT scan. The results took about an hour and with the results in hand I was sent of to a surgeon.
Bad news
In the mean time my wife also arrived from work, as she was inquiring about how I was doing the entire day, and she could see from the updates I was giving that something was not right with my health.
The doctor called us in in showed us the CT scan that showed various growths in my abdomen, which he informed us was lymphoma - cancer of the lymph system, which affects glands. I had one large mass, measuring 11.9 cm by 7 cm and various smaller ones.
The surgeon informed us that I had to go for a biopsy of the lymph-node and bone-marrow, as there are a lot of different types of lymphoma, of which the treatments differ.
This was quite a shock for us, with my wife and all my family taking the news very badly. I on the other hand felt very calm. I was in fact feeling very peaceful. As a Christian, I know God is always with me, even if this is going to be the end of me on earth, I know I have eternal life. But nobody knows when their time has come and in the mean time, I will do my best to come through this.
I have experienced a lot of support from my family and friends as well from colleagues at work and some steemians who read my daily scripture and even from people I don't really know in this short time since I have been diagnosed, it is just incredible. It is good to know that a lot of people are praying and caring for me.
Biopsy
As I said previously, I had to go to hospital for the two biopsies, I was scheduled to go in on Monday 14:00 and booked into the hospital just before 12:00. The biopsy was done and I was discharged again at about 18:00. The doctor told us the results will take about a week.
As I am typing this post, I am still feeling good, I just have a bit of discomfort where the biopsy was done, further on I am still great and don't feel sick at all.
I will try to give updates on my journey through this illness.
I know that there will be a rough time ahead, as the treatment progresses, but I am sure I will be able to cope through the strength I receive from God and all the support from family and friends.
This last 6 days really was a big change in my life and my families lives, I hope this experience can also help others as I go along writing about it. I think the one lesson learnt is to go to the doctor even when you think it is nothing, one never knows it could be serious.
