After delays comes a leg scan … eek
Latest checkup occured today, outcome is still living with NED, that’s a good thing, no signs of local spreading, but I noted a fatigue feeling in the leg that played host to the thick Nodular Melanoma that scares me quite literally to death. The fatigue has been there for a while, coming and going. An MRI scan is being talked of with an 8 week wait, and this is the point at which I say oh shit I thought nothing was wrong, that it was because I had pulled a muscle, I really didn’t exoect that.
There is no special cancer unit for me to attend and I have been to the skin department once in Septeber last year pre-cancer, for a long time I have been going to the ENT department and having my checkup appointments delayed and generally not being treated with a sense of urgency and to the system it’s almost as if I don’t have cancer, I do wonder myself if all this is real, I know i’t real, don’t feel that way though. You know it’s kinda hard to shout at people who acted very quickly to save your life. I have that complaints letter written about the ENT department, I haven’t the heart to send it.
More than a year on, the journey isn’t what I thought it would be. I’d hyped myself up for massive life changes which have almost failed to come, I live with just over a 50% chance of living 5 years, it really is the most abstract thing I have dealt with so at this point in time I’m, producing a website to promote awareness of the warning signs of skin cancer, not just presenting the facts, but adding some personal expereince and opinion to the facts.
Make sure you all stay moleAware. Even if by the remotest chance I don’t make it through, at least I stood up to put out a resource that could help people know how to get skin cancer diagnosed early on. The site has a coming soon notice at the moment, I need to edit some word counts downwards if people are ever gonna want to read the pages.
Hi Lee, I hope the wait for your scan is not too long and that your result is a good one. As someone else in their twenties who was diagnosed with melanoma last year I can really relate to the feelings you describe. Well done on putting your feelings down in your blog and on the excellent MoleAware site.
Hi Hannah, still waiting for a date for the scan. I have my next check up in March. I moved all the personal stuff about it here from my LiveJournal, easier to access here I guess, even with the typos, it’s a big outlet. Not many people understand or can listen in everyday life.
A personal rollercoster that not many other people are on is how I’d describe the whole situation. It sucks that young people are being affected by many types of cancer, anyone going through this though is very brave, yourself included.
Reading stories like yours is one of the reasons that I got into blogging in the first place. Its not about how many readers you have but in telling your story in your own words. Even though the journey that you are own is filled with unknowns I feel that you are making a huge contribution to yourself and others.
The NHS continues to fail…
Despite massive amounts of money being poured into the NHS by the current Labour government, we continue to hear that patients are denied treatment and/or placed on huge waiting lists.
Two examples (from BBC News) this week:
Lee Jordan, 24, had to…
[…] r an MRI scan after he was diagnosed with skin cancer. Link to BBC News Online article. Link to Lee Jordan’s blog. Stephen Eeley, 58, ki […]
[…] for an MRI scan after he was diagnosed with skin cancer. Link to BBC News Online article. Link to Lee Jordan’s blog. Stephen Eeley, 58, kicked […]