I decided to start this blog so that I could inform all my wonderful family / friends of what I'm going though and also as a way of keeping a diary of events as they arise.
A couple of months back, a lump appeared under the right side of my jaw then another on the right side of my neck. This started me on a journey of countless tests involving blood analysis, X-Rays, Needle Aspiration biopsy, Ultrasounds, Computerized Axial Tomography scans and Positron emission tomography scans.
The doctors had an inkling of what was going on but required an invasive biopsy to be 100% certain, so on the 6th December, I was admitted to Nepean Private hospital to have the lump under the jaw extracted which was sent off to two seperate Pathology labs for analysis. For the next 2 days swallowing a pea felt like shoving a whole watermelon down my throat.
4 days later I received a phone call from my Oncologist Dr John Taper at Nepean Hospital and heard him utter the words that I was dreading to hear, "I need you to come in and see me straight away"
I was diagnosed with Nasopharyngeal carcinoma which is a cancer originating in the nasopharynx, the uppermost region of the pharynx or "throat", where the nasal passages and auditory tubes join the remainder of the upper respiratory tract. Bugger! Now things were serious and I've been preparing for my treatment's which will begin on January 12.
First cab off the rank .. my teeth (21/12). Due to the location of the cancer, the back teeth of my mouth may deteriate leading to infection due to the radiotherapy treatment and therefore had to go. I was introduced to Orthodontic Professor Christopher Grittiths at Westmead Hospital who decided that 5 teeth needed to be removed. 1-2-3-4-5!!! FIVE!!! Now the next line should make some people cringe. After administering a local anesthetic and an hour of tugging and pulling, they were gone. Dealing with a red back spider bite was more tolerable than that!
Second cab off the rank .. stomach peg feeding tube (23/12). Again, due to the location of the cancer, after a few weeks of treatment my throat will become constricted and I will no longer produce saliva, therefore unable to swallow any food. The operation was painless enough, but then you wake up and have this 20cm long tube hanging out of you which is frightening to say the least. Thoughts of the movie Alien spring to mind. Anything I swallow can be felt as it travels down the esophagus to the stomach and when it arrives there, well lets just say that I certainly know it's arrived! To quote Dr Zachary Smith from Lost in Space "Oh, the pain, the pain."
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