Tag: surgery

Standing up to Cancer… #Sarcoma

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It’s been 13 days since I had the surgery on my lungs. Whilst I am in a little pain, I am doing really well and am pleased with my progress.

My wonderful surgeon has just called me to confirm that they have analysed the tumour that was removed and……the cancer cells were completely destroyed. This is fantastic news and means that the chemo did a brilliant job!

I still have one very small tumour on my left lung and I have decided to continue with the next operation to remove it. It’s more psychological but I do not want to leave a single tumour in my body that could come back to life. So on that note, I will be back in the suite at Broadgreen on Friday!

Thinking of friends
Whilst I have had success with my cancer treatment, not everyone has been that lucky. There are a few people who are having it rough and I just want to say don’t give up! There are lots of treatments available and sometimes you have to try a few to find the one that suits you.

Take care and I’ll update soon xx

Through the keyhole… #Sarcoma #Cancer

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Hello everyone,

Today I met the man who will, in a short while, be saving my life – my wonderful surgeon. He’s explained that he will be doing two operations on me, the first being on my right lung. The tumour is close to my chest wall but as I have no pain at all he is confident that it’s a straightforward procedure which will see him remove the middle lobe of my lung. This will be achieved via keyhole surgery. In the unlikely event that he can’t do this he will slice me open good and proper, move my ribs (ouch!!) and get to the little bugger that way. He said that 1/20 surgeries like this can’t be achieved with keyhole. In the even unliklier event that the tumour is attached to the chest wall then he may remove a rib or two (bigger ouch) Either way I don’t care as long as it’s out of me.

The second surgery will be to remove the one met that remains in my left lung. Yes you did read that correctly. One has gone!!!!! He said that the one that’s left could be the dregs of one tumour or may even be scar tissue. I was so pleased with this as I thought I still had two there. The second surgery will be taken once I’ve recovered from the first one.

Private Healthcare
I am not having the surgery on the NHS as going private will get me an earlier date. Hopefully the surgeon will call me in the morning to confirm a date, apparently Theatre is quite quiet at the moment!

Thinking of Friends
On a final note, I’m genuinely shocked by the amount of friends/family that have been diagnosed with cancer recently. You are all in my thoughts and keep fighting

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So what happens now…… #Sarcoma #Cancer

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I’ve been away, am refreshed (such a lie-we partied like it was going out of fashion!) and back to fighting my irritating intruder.

BMJ
Dr Chandra had asked if he could use pictures of my tumour, pre and post op, in his work with the British Medical Journal. Chandra was presenting at the BMJ conference where people were lucky (or unlucky) enough to see pictures of me in my short lived modelling career. Dr Chanda is amazing and he is working with other professionals to implement a module for trainee GP’s to create awareness of sarcoma. I wish him all the luck in doing this and have told him I’m happy to consent to any of my files/photos being used.

Appointments
Friday was a busy day. John & I headed to the Linda McCartney Centre at the Liverpool Royal where I had two appointments. As usual I had the ‘pre appointment’ jitters but was comforted by a friendly face in the waiting room-we bumped into the lovely Rose who attends the Sarcoma support group.

The appointment was different – In the room was John & I, Dr Ali, Dr Allam and two Clinical Specialist Nurses – it was like a mothers meeting, but so much better than having two separate appointments!

So what happens next?
I will be meeting the surgeon in the next 10 days. He says the surgery is easy (well he does do it a lot) and they want to do it sooner rather than later, which is music to my ears! I need to have two operations, the first will be on my right lung. Now here’s the biology lesson….. The right lung is in three sections (the left is in two) and the surgeon will be removing the ‘middle lobe’ which is the smallest lobe. I will need to recover for approximately six weeks then I will have another surgery where the two buggers on my left lung will be taken out. Dr Alam has confirmed that I won’t be having any radiotherapy following my operations. This is scary as it means I could be ‘getting on with life’ in about 8 weeks by doing things like returning to work, going on the long haul all holiday I didn’t think we would have in 2014 and well, just trying to put the big C behind me. These operations are the final hurdle in this chapter and I can’t wait to start moving on….

Giggle
This morning I received my Tesco club card vouchers and they offered me money off dry shampoo. An hour later I received an email from Debenhams showing me how to create the perfect eye brows…. 🙂 don’t they know I’m bald???? 🙂

Goodnight folks xxx

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Stand up to Cancer…

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standing up to cancer

What a busy day I have had. Had Helen bring the mini Mac’s to visit. Had lots of cuddles from them. The Scottish McTickles, mum, dad and John paid a visit bringing me lots of goodies. When they were kicked out at 4 they all sneaked off to the pub and had a gorgeous meal….they can make it up to me when I get out!!

Have had my new leg brace fitted which I will need to wear for at least 8 weeks…need to think of a christening outfit to match now 🙂

Today is Stand up to Cancer day, thanks to everyone who is sharing my blog. This cancer is rare and when I was diagnosed I just wanted to hear from real life people who had experienced it, so if I can help just one person then I will be happy.

Night all