The whirlwind of diagnosis and prognosis
I had the fateful phonecall on a Thursday telling me I have cancer. I was actually in a hotel and burst into hysterical tears… What a scary thing to be told before you have managed to have lunch!!
Rachael was delayed on a plane and arrived 45 minutes later looking like she had 5 rounds with Mike Tyson. Never an easy thing to take as a partner and she received the news from the hotel manager!!…. (I was busy snotting all over her desk!!).
I maintain that’s it’s harder for your loved ones, they are totally helpless and would give anything in the world for it to be them instead of you.
All I have to do is smash cancer… Whereas Rachael has to see her fiancé sick and low for at least 6 months… It would certainly kill me if the shoe was on the other foot!
Following the phonecall, my consultant arranged for me to see a consultant haematologist the following morning.
If there is anything I could convey to anyone reading this, it is the total positivity that man had!!
“If it’s 2a as we suspect, you are looking at up to 90% chance of a cure”.
Obviously my mind went to the 10%,
but Hodgkins is one of the most curable cancers in the world, so if you feel ‘why me?!…’, just think 'it could be a whole lot worse’.
There are many types of lymphoma, some less treatable than others.
If it’s Hodgkin’s, you have reason to be positive.
But there WAS some heart breaking news….
