The two week pathway

** This is a personal post , I will do a stitchy post later in the week**

First of all , thank you to those who left good wishes messages on my last post and apologies that I didn't reply , I have been on the roller-coaster of life for the last couple of months .

  For those who do not know , the two week pathway is a protocol acted on by the NHS , where if a diagnosis of cancer is suspected , you are guaranteed to be given an appointment within two weeks of your referral.

  I was ill the end of last year , but you know how it is , you can always find reasons and excuses . I put a lot of it down to having Flash , the demands of having a new puppy. I was exhausted all of the time , had little or no appetite , lots of various aches and pains , dizzy spells , nausea and weight loss. Now I had started trying to lose weight around August 2017 , but by last year I was happy and had stopped trying , but it still kept coming off.

  The final straw for me was when I passed out in the local shop and face-planted a crisps display. The staff were amazing and called an ambulance despite my protests. At the time , I was checked out and given a clean bill of health , but it was highly embarrassing and also a wake up call that something really was not right.

   I saw my GP who was concerned , changed some of my medication for an existing condition and ordered blood tests for a couple of weeks later.

 The red flag was raised! My bloods were so out of order it was unreal , I was severely anaemic , infection and inflammation markers were all sky high and my liver function was totally off the score.

 All the factors and my symptoms were pointing to a high likelihood of bowel cancer.

So a week or so later I saw a specialist nurse who ordered lots of tests.
   I had a  colonoscopy and a gastroscopy with biopsies and a ct scan.

The camera tests were given the all clear at the time but I had to wait for the biopsy and ct results.

 A phone call with another nurse and everything was clear apart from the ct scan had shown a mass which looked as if it was on my right ovary , so I was transferred to the gynae team.

  Ultrasound scans followed and then an appointment with a consultant who said it looked like a cyst , but as it was so big (7cm at that time) he recommended removal along with the ovary. To avoid further complications he said it might be worth removing both ovaries at the time just in case , but I could think about it and let them know when I went in.
  Meanwhile , my liver tests were still not right so he referred me back to the GP for them to arrange more investigations.

  Now , mid April and more blood tests for pretty much anything and everything , including HIV as they really didn't know what to make of me by then .

  It turns out that I have auto-immune hepatitis , which basically means that my own immune system is attacking my liver. I have been referred back to the hospital to see a specialist , but as of right now , there are no appointments available ! So goodness knows how long it will be before I get to see someone or how much damage will be done meanwhile.

 On 24th April , I had both ovaries and fallopian tubes removed . I received the histology report last week , and the "cyst" had grown by 2cm in the month between the scans and surgery and it turned out to be a rare kind of tumour. Thankfully it was benign so no further action is required.

  So this is where I'm at now . Slowly recovering form surgery , it is killing me to not be able to walk Flash, hubby has taken on a lot more than he is used to and the kids are helping around the house . And I'm waiting to see someone about my liver ,

  I have done lots of stitching though , so will do another post in the next few days.

Thank you for bearing with me .
Cath