I’ve got the result of my cancer surveillance CT scan. In the words of the radiologist: ‘Stable appearances. No evidence of recurrence.’ They never say ‘all clear.’ Nonetheless, this is a huge relief. However, I did come away from the meeting with my oncologist with an important question that still needed to be answered. For the past three months, I’ve had a pain in my left side, which also follows the line of my ribs. I first went to my physiotherapist. He told me it was a minor muscle tear. But a month later the pain was unchanged. So I went to my GP. He sent me for a series of blood tests and an X-ray. All of these were normal. And still the pain continued. So when I got the appointment for my CT scan, I rang my oncologist’s secretary and reported my symptoms. She was concerned. My left kidney was where the cancer had first appeared. She told me that Radiology would be asked to specifically report on my left side. Unfortunately, their report did not do this.
At the
meeting, I explained that I was afraid my left diaphragm had become damaged
again. It was surgically repaired with mesh five years ago. My oncologist examined
me and concluded that there were a number of possible diagnoses. The repair
could have become damaged. Or some scar tissue could have torn. I have plenty
of this, and some nerve damage, due to repeated surgery on my abdomen. Or this pain
could be an early sign of something malign that had not yet grown enough to
show up on a CT scan.
She said
she would contact the surgeon who had done the repair on my diaphragm and ask
him to have a look at the pictures from my scan. I was delighted she was going
to do this. It would have taken me ages to get to see him again. She also
booked me in for another CT scan in three months time, to check again whether
any recurrence could be seen. I was reassured for now. She had been thorough,
covering all bases. And these were good steps forward. I could sleep a bit more
easily.
