I was informed that I had pseudomyxoma perintonei (the nurse had to write it down for me) and they were referring me to The Christie specialist cancer hospital in Manchester.
It’s estimated that 1 in 2 people in the UK born after 1960 will be diagnosed with some form of cancer during their lifetime. What numbers are there for pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP)?
Diagnosing appendix cancer can be difficult due to the lack of effective screening tests and the general nature of the symptoms.
Susan Oliver was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in 2003 and given only 18 months to live has spoken of how she wants to give hope to others by surviving against the odds.
After my diagnosis with metastatic, well-differentiated mucinous adenocarcinoma of the appendix, my doctor said I have a 72% chance of being alive in 10 years; those are great odds for a cancer patient.
My original symptom was an ‘irritated‘ bladder — it is difficult to describe but the closest I can come up with it that it felt like it was vibrating all the time. In March 2010, after several months of bladder discomfort and many trips to my GP, I was referred to the genito-urinary clinic at my local University hospital with suspected bladder prolapse. Eventually, this lead to a diagnosis of pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP).
The most common question I get asked is “How did you know something was wrong?”. So, here’s the story.
On November 30, 2009 Megan went to Northside Hospital, Cherokee, with severe abdominal pain. After hours of testing and exams, she was admitted to do further testing. Megan’s abdomen was swollen to the point that the doctors, had they already not tested for pregnancy, said that she looked to be about five to six months pregnant.
When we got home from a family holiday and I looked at the photos, my stomach looked really distended. After noticing this, it just seemed to get worse and felt quite hard. I went to see the Doctor and he said I probably had wind or had just put on weight.
It’s just two days until my operation but how did I get to this point?
The call came out of the blue. When my gynae consultant’s secretary called, I thought she wanted to say the appointment I had changed was inconvenient. But no, she wanted to ask me to come back in! Even then I wasn’t particularly worried, didn’t really have a clue why…
Looking back, I think we were trying to protect our children from the reality of the disease. Initially, when we discussed my diagnosis, we used terms like death, dying, chemo and cancer. We thought we spun this into a very positive approach, but our “method” may have given our children a confusing and unrealistic message about survival instead.
Jim's surgeon's secretary (for his appendectomy) called him and told him they needed to make another appointment because they "had found something". Thank G-d I decided to go to that appointment! The surgeon came in and told Jim, "You have appendix cancer and I don't...