I finally made 14 years since I was diagnosed on 26th July 2010.  A milestone I was not certain at the time I would reach.  However, as things progressed, as treatment was administered, and as I got used to living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, I eventually became more confident this was a possibility with the help of Chris, my wife of 49 years.

I was fortunate that my cancer was not that aggressive although it was aggressive enough over an unknown period of time (probably years) to have grown inside my small intestine and mesentery, reached an army of lymph nodes, and settled in my liver and beyond including, strangely, in my left armpit. 

It was incurable, and unique to serotonin secreting midgut Neuroendocrine Tumours, it had caused a dense fibrotic reaction in the general area of the mesentery and less commonly, in the retroperitoneal cavity near major blood vessels including the aorta and inferior vena cava, an issue which itself was life-threatening.  Some of these issues remain today, a bit of it threatens one of my ureters – you can take a quick look at my clinical history here.

The lead-up to my diagnosis was a rocky road, albeit I travelled that road fairly swiftly compared to some.  In May 2010, some abnormal blood tests were discovered and in June 2010, I went on holiday such was my indifference to the whole affair. In some ways, I was happy not to know about the plethora of medical issues going on inside my body while I sipped piña coladas on the Barbadian beaches.  My return to the UK set the ball rolling and the ‘eureka’ moment came on 8th July with a CT scan (“what are you doing this afternoon“).  During what seemed an endless round of tests, a liver biopsy (Grade 2) provided concrete evidence.  But the 2 days prior to meeting an Oncologist in Bournemouth on Monday 26th July 2010 were spent in the very same hospital after being admitted for severe shoulder pain.  You can read my no holds barred summary with some serious but also humorous memories by clicking here.

The rocky road to diagnosis even included a 48-hour hospital stay shortly after a liver biopsy. I was discharged on the morning of 26th July 2010 only to return later that same day for my formal diagnosis.  Read more about that 48-hour period by clicking here or on the picture below.