Sorry, this might be a bit of a ramble. I should have written this kind of thing before. Hopefully it will give some hope to anyone with cancer - specifically locally advanced nsclc (advanced to lymphs in neck). I was first diagnosed in November 2013 after developing a cough on holiday. X-ray revealed enough for my GP to call it asthma. I thought no way, and asked for a CT scan. That told a very different story. Anyway things happened very quickly. 6 weeks of radical chemo-radiation therapy (concurrent - the best way, if you can stand it). Subsequent oncologist and CT appointments showed marked shrinkage, and we always went away feeling positive. Until the one I had on Monday last. After the CT scan, he saw something that he and the radiologist "didn't like". Sent me into a complete tailspin. Anyway, had a bronchoscopy on Wednesday 21 Oct. Just had a call from my oncologist, nothing bad was found, including biopsy results. Lucky I was sitting down at the time. No idea what it was they "saw", apparently it's a very difficult area to interpret. Maybe scarring from radiotherapy? Next appointment November 30 2015 preceded by X-ray. Now what all this rambling waffle means is: if a weak-nerdy-coward like me can make it for 2 years, so can anyone else. Not all Cancer is a death-sentence. Don't spend ages scanning the internet. A lot of the data is either out-of-date or vague, or plain misleading. Bouncing from one oncologist appointment to the next in 3/4 months isn't always easy (we all know what 'scan-anxiety' means), and you can never feel that you're out of those dark nasty woods. But I tell you this - there's little truer than the saying that "while there's life there's hope". And trust your professionals. The people who have looked after me, well, whatever happens I could never praise them enough for their knowledge, care and attention. By golly they do a hard job. You think it's just you with cancer until you turn up for chemo-radiation and join the queue. I have told my onco that I will try hard to be one of his success stories. Who knows. Time will tell. Hope that's been of some help to someone. All the best to everyone - Margni.
