The first mention of the C word!

Today was our first visit to Papworth Hospital.  Paul was called to have a CT guided needle biopsy to take some tissue away from the parts of his lung and diaphragm which had the 'unknown' areas on them.  Today was the first day the C word was mentioned.

We arrived at Papworth quite early as we had never been there before and didn't want to be late.  We were shown to the day ward and Paul has some bloods taken.  Before Paul's biopsy was done we were seen by a Junior Doctor.  She asked us to tell her what had brought us there and what we knew about what was going on with Paul.  We explained to her the journey so far, but her asking us in this way made me feel slightly uncomfortable.  Rather than her telling us what was happening and what would happen she was asking us what we knew.  From this moment on our lives would change in a rather large way!

I think she knew I was concerned from the look on my face and she asked me 'Mrs Cowley, what are you thinking'.  My reply to her was that they were thinking this was Cancer.  And at this moment our worst fears were realised.  They too had concerns that this was Cancer and not just a harmless unknown area.

The needle biopsy was carried out with no problems.  Paul had to lie on his side for an hour and then after another hour have a x-ray to check that no air had leaked into his lung.  Once this was completed (with no complication) we were free to go.

Before we left we were introduced to our Specialist Nurse, Claire.  She talked to us about where these unknown areas were on Paul's right lung and diaphragm.  She also arranged our appointment for the Thursday after in the out patient clinic to get the results from the biopsy.