Tuesday 18 March 2008

step 15: biopsy results

Wednesday 13th March:
Went back in for the biopsy results, and they were much as we expected, but it was still quite a shock. I took my trusty notepad again, and Aj was with me. If you can take someone, do so, as no matter how well prepared you think you are for bad news, it’s still hard to deal with.

I have/had ovarian cancer, and both ovaries were involved, plus it had grown onto the bowel and there were traces of it in the omentum. This is a type 3 cancer [still need to get that clarified], and is pretty lethal. Generally speaking, the higher the grade, the more quickly the cancer is likely to grow. They have obviously removed everything they could see, but as the mass had started to leak into my abdomen, there is a likelihood of there being some ‘invisible’ cancerous cells still remaining which could grow back. So I need to have chemotherapy to get rid of it. There is a 70 to 80% chance of clearing it, according to Mr Renninson.

In two weeks time I will have a meeting with the oncologist who specialises in this kind of chemo. They will tell me what they plan to do, and give me a date for the first treatment. This is likely to be one week after the initial meeting. The delay is so I can first recover from the surgery I have just had, as it was so massive.

I will then have 6 treatments, one every 3 weeks. Each treatment takes approximately half a day. Apparently it’s exhausting, but I will get all the details on Tuesday.

The one thing the Renninson and the ward nurse said is in my favour the fact that I am so positive – apparently this helps a lot. So, we have our positive heads on, as I don’t intend to let this stop me doing everything and anything!

And, some totally gross news – he said the cyst / thing he removed weighed ½ a kilo!! Aaargh! And I have a picture of it – it is so disgusting I can’t believe it!! I am so glad I didn’t see it before he removed it, as I would have been tempted to try and get it out myself! Hideous thing. Anyway, shot of it now, and recovering well. Apart from the blasted wind!! I never knew AIR could be so problematic! grr.

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