On Saturday, I glanced at the calendar on my phone and recognised the date as some sort of anniversary – 26 July. It was exactly 4 years to the day I received my diagnosis of Metastatic Neuroendocrine Cancer.
It all began 2 months previously with a routine asthma clinic appointment when I mentioned to the Nurse Practitioner that I thought I’d lost half a stone in weight. She immediately said “did you mean to lose the weight” and the answer was “no” on the basis that I just simply thought I was heavier. As a precaution she sent me for a set of blood tests and then a retest. I later marched into the GP’s office (having been asked to come to the surgery) to hear the GP say “I didn’t expect such a well-looking man given the haemoglobin results I’m looking at”.
I was eventually referred to a specialist whose immediate words were “something isn’t right here”. Following a bunch of tests, he then told me he had “found something very unusual“. More tests and even more tests………. and then on 26 July 2010 I was told I had widespread and incurable Neuroendocrine Cancer which was quite uncommon and without treatment I would eventually die.
A lot has happened since then. I’ve had approximately 25 hours of surgery/invasive procedures much of it under general anaesthetic and around 34 days in hospital. I’ve had countless scans and other tests. I’ve had more injections than I’ve had hot dinners – this is actually true! More importantly, I’m still alive and kicking! I’m feeling great too having recently completed a 6-day hike along the 84 miles of Hadrian’s Wall.
If you want to read (and hear) more detail about my diagnosis, check out these blog posts: Diagnosis – I’m no longer in control and Did you mean to lose weight?
Thanks for reading
Ronny Allan – Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer!
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Happy 4th Anniversary. What a journey you’ve had. 😄
Thank you!
Well done Ronny! A “life” sentence is a great choice!