World Cancer Day : A Personal Story
I don’t normally share personal issues, but have agreed to share this article, written by my younger sister, about her experiences:
‘I'd like to share my personal experiences of the subtler signs and symptoms of brain tumours and encourage others to seek help if they have concerns about themselves, loved ones, friends or colleagues. I was diagnosed with a tumour in my right parietal lobe in November 2023. My clinicians indicated that my tumour had probably been growing for 6 months by the time I was diagnosed.
The first signs that something wasn't right were subtle and I put them down to being perimenopausal - getting emotional for small reasons, 'brain fog' and anxiety, so I decided to try HRT. I thought the daily headaches I began having a few weeks later were side effects. I now know that the relatively mild headaches I had most mornings were a sign of the tumour, as was the accompanying dizziness and nausea.
Around this time, my hearing dullened and my ears felt 'full'. I spoke to a pharmacist who recognised the red flags (dizziness, nausea) and said I needed to urgently see a GP. I was initially diagnosed with a middle ear infection, and was given various medications, none of which did much to relieve my symptoms. I was trying to continue working but when I bounced like a pinball along a corridor and lost my footing going downstairs, I suspected this wasn't just an ear infection. Shortly after this, I had an episode of double vision and was struggling reading documents on screen. I now realise that my vision had first started to deteriorate before the headaches started.
Prior to having double vision, my eyes had felt 'sore'. I'd been putting in long hours so thought I had eye strain from all the close work. I'd also noticed that my left hand wasn't always where I wanted it to be on the keyboard. This loss of control of my left hand, along with the vision problems was not consistent with an ear infection, so once again I went back to the GP. I was concerned I may have had a stroke. They sent me to A&E for a scan. The scan result, which showed the tumour, was a complete shock. 10 days later, I had surgery to remove the tumour. This went well but subsequent radiotherapy and chemotherapy didn’t halt the progression of the tumour. I’m now receiving palliative care.
I hope my experiences encourage others to pay attention to things that don't seem right and persist in seeking help, particularly if you don’t get relief from whatever treatment you're given or if you develop new symptoms. I'd also like to encourage everyone to look out for signs that something isn't right. For example, a change in someone’s character, a colleague having more days off than usual with relatively minor illnesses (such as headaches) or struggling to do what they are usually able to do.’
