There's a Panda in my Bellybutton

Oral Mass Ryan woke up on Monday 11 September 2017 and told me he had a mouth ulcer. As soon as he showed me I knew it was not an ulcer, I knew his lymphoma is back. We had an appointment with his oncologist at the clinic the following day. The consultant, Dr A, agreed it needed a biopsy. He photographed the mass and emailed our oncology team in Cardiff from the treatment room at Carmarthen hospital. Dr A also advised me that my dentist see the oral mass as it was my dentist that first noticed the original changes the previous year. My dentist was thankful we had been to see him and to keep him in the loop of developments. He agreed the new mass was looking pretty awful. We were admitted to Cardiff hospital the following day for another biopsy. Our oncology team were open and honest that it was their belief Ryan had relapsed but obviously we had to wait for the biopsy results to confirm the diagnosis. We were initially advised that we would be discharged on watch and wait and that ...

Keep fighting and ask for another opinion. The ENT consultant rang me at 6pm on Monday 25th July 2016 to say that the biopsy results were not yet back. So our appointment for Tuesday 26th did not happen as I had expected it wouldn't. He couldn't give me any indication of timing but said he will chase the lab each day for me and promised to call me as soon as the results were back so that we can then arrange an appointment to discuss them. I will be surprised if a consultant really has the time to do this, so we shall see. I was quite impressed though that a consultant found the time to actually call me himself, although I did laugh at him when he said, "Try not to worry." The limbo I think is the hardest when waiting for results.  I had asked the doctors three times when we were on the ward the previous week if they really thought the biopsy results would be back in a week. I fully expected them not to be, although I had hoped we might know. I said at the time that ...

Symptoms to look out for in cancer. Ryan has been ill since September 2014 with recurring sore throats and temperatures, indicative of tonsillitis. He was diagnosed with the Epstein Barr Virus which causes Glandular Fever in March 2015 and missed almost 3 months of school. His health did not improve over the next year and from February 2016 he deteriorated significantly. He lost 10kgs in weight and developed:  Appetite loss Severe Fatigue Painful joints, Sore throats Intermittent fevers (which lasts 4 days on average) Night sweats Dizzy spells Mouth ulcers Pallor Dysphagia His CRP reading was 31 in May 2016. An average CRP should be below 5. However Ryan reached 331 when he suffered from Sepsis, but that is a different story for another blog post. This sucked both health and timing-wise as it was right at the critical point of him choosing his year 9 options in school for the subjects he was going to begin studying for his GCSEs. Although Ryan was absent from school, we wer...