Champagne

Champagne starts with a "C" and so does Cancer....

Who would have thought that an innocuous glass of crappy Champagne would have propelled me into a scary world of so many unknowns. I rarely drink at the best of times but we had had this bottle of bubbly for a while and I thought to take it with us to celebrate our holidays last February. I only had one glass and was sick during the night ( my wife reckons it was off). Two days went on without any other effects and then I started feeling somewhat nauseated after each meal..
Back at home, I went to see my GP who gave me some tablets and an ultrasound referral in the event the nausea/pain did not clear by the end of the week...anyhow to make a long story short the ultrasound revealed a large tumor in my liver and another mass in my Psoas muscle.
It was thought originally that it was a Testicular cancer that had metastised. Not only did this diagnosis turned out to be incorrect but all blood and biopsy tests came back negative and was therefore told that it was rather unlikely to be Cancer but rather some form of infection. I was eventually admitted to the hospital for further testing and on results from a core biopsy of my Psoas muscle and a following P.E.T Scan was finally diagnosed with Leiomyosarcoma, (LMS for short) a rare form of soft tissue Cancer.
The PET scan revealed further smaller tumors in my hip, neck and lung. My first cycle of Chemo will start next week.

I've learned a lot about Cancer in those last couple of months, I've also learned a lot about diagnosis and how hard it can be to get it right when your disease is rare. I used to joke with my wife and GP that perhaps we could send over my story to the script writers of the popular TV show House.

Often people will say the silliest things without realising it....here are a couple that I've come across so far...Please have a chuckle if you recognise yourself, I certainly have.

"I've got good news ! you can pop the champagne ! It's definitively not Cancer!"
Here goes the C word again.

"We thought you may have had X disease meaning we could have sent you home with a handful of antibiotics and be done in a matter of months but unfortunately you have LMS."
Was that supposed to make me feel better ?