Osteosarcoma p3

                 Part 3

The day arrived when I could go home, due to COVID rules I had not seen my family for 6 weeks, to say I was elated would be an underestimate.

Being home was great and seeing the Grandkids was wonderful, lots of questions I had to answer too, the weather had turned and it was getting chilly outside. Waiting for the histology report was killing me inside, then I got the call from the oncology department at the ROH, expecting to hear them say “the biopsy hadn't shown anything sinister” I put the phone on loud speaker so my wife could hear. The lady on the phone explained who she was, then read out the histology report, unfortunately cancer cells were present and the diagnosis was I had Osteosarcoma, a rare type of bone cancer in people of my age. Everything went fuzzy and I felt sick in the pit of my stomach, Nicola (my wife) broke down in tears on the settee, I asked what would happen next, and was told I would get an appointment within 2 weeks to see an oncologist at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (QE here on in), obviously I had many questions that couldn't be answered at this time, so I wrote them all down.

Appointment day came and myself and the wife visited the QE as scheduled, Dr Sherriff my Oncologist was very understanding and patient, it was determined I had stage 3 Osteosarcoma in the left distal femur, I would be scheduled to have 3 cycles of chemotherapy then an operation, at this stage it couldn't be established whether I would lose my leg. Having to operate again so quickly would in itself be difficult. If there was any good news to be taken away from this meeting, it was the fact treatment was with a view "to cure". We went home waiting every day for the phone to ring to say they had a bed, 16th November the call came in, a bed was ready and could I be there at 09.00 the next day to have my PICC line fitted, this is the tube that chemo would be administered through. Packing my case, both myself and Nicola talked about how I would have to go through this on my own, due again to COVID regulations.

PICC line fitted I was transferred to the ward and booked in by a nurse, I introduced myself to the other patients and unpacked my case.

The ward doctor came to see me later that afternoon and told me what regime of chemo I had, also the type of chemo. I was having Doxorubicin and Cisplatin, the former had earned the nickname "Red devil" due to its colour and side effects. Sounds pretty horrible doesn't it. That afternoon two nurses came to my bedside, one of which was a trained Chemo nurse, “it's time to start your chemotherapy” she said. The two of them cross checked specifics and hooked me up to the Bag of chemo, Red devil first over 30 mins, then a flush and Cisplatin for 1.5 hours, followed by another flush for 4 hours.

The same regime was repeated at day two.

All was well for a few days later, then I felt like I had been hit by a runaway train, I felt sick, couldn't eat and was running a temperature, due to go home on Friday that week, the Dr informed me that I wouldn't be going until my symptoms calmed down somewhat. The following day I felt even worse so the doctor came and took some bloods to send off to the lab, I really did feel unwell, I couldn't face food and could just about manage to keep water down, because of this I was put on intravenous fluids, each bag lastin 8 hours.

The guy in the next bed was incredibly kind (John), he kept me sane, we chatted all the time about different things, he really did keep my mind busy, a man I will never forget.

A few days later the Dr came and advised me that I had unfortunately contracted Neutropenic sepsis.

This was serious, but how on earth did I get an infection on the ward? The nurses explained that being in hospital, patients more at risk than if they were to be at home, I got that to be perfectly honest.

I just wanted to be home for Christmas, although there were people on ward to talk to I felt lonely, my wife and I had always been at each others side, it was affecting her too, not being able to visit. Due to me not eating I had now lost an incredible 3 stones in weight, Chemo tongue has kicked in overnight out of nowhere, a painful blistering of the tongue, a reaction to Doxorubicin.

21st of December came and Dr's told me my infection has cleared and I could go home, I was so looking forward to seeing my wife and family.

Part 4 to follow.