What follows is a rant and I do apologise. I feel so low today. I went to see an ear, nose & throat specialist yesterday. My ENT appointment for December was brought forward so that I saw a consultant in some special unit of the hospital but I still don’t know the relationship between this unit and the general ENT dept. I am in a Catch 22 situation. He told me that, as a result of the chemo I have been having and a lowered immune system, I have a nasal infection, chronic rhinitis/allergy. I also have a non-malignant cyst and polyps. I can’t have the transplant with an existing infection but they won’t/can’t clear up the infection until I see another specialist. I have had these symptoms for ten months now but it has never been taken seriously before.
I am due to have my PET scan on Monday to see if I am in remission for the transplant but this does not give the ear, nose and throat guy enough information; a CT scan of the head is needed for that. To have that too soon after a PET scan would mean I would be given too much radiation. I need to have a CT scan so that they can determine whether to give me antibiotics or whether an operation is needed to open up the sinuses.
So here I am – no antibiotics and with the knowledge that an operation at this stage is the last thing I want. Then – the ultimate. The ENT guy told me he would WRITE to my GP and the Consultant who runs the Bone Marrow Transplant Clinic. For those of you reading this but not living in Britain you will not understand we are in the middle of a postal strike! I asked if he would telephone them but he preferred to write, so I gave him the Consultant’s fax number and I tried to explain the urgency of this if we are to meet the December 6th deadline.
Now my greatest fear is not that I won’t be in remission, but that perhaps I am but I can’t go ahead with the transplant because of a nasal infection! Over the weekend as a family we are going to try to think of things we can do to alleviate some of the problems, nasal washes, vitamin C, cutting out dairy produce etc. We are also going to try to evolve some strategy to get the professionals talking to each other. I was so high at the prospect that at long last the transplant would be going ahead and now I feel so powerless. There - I’ve got it out of my system so we can go for a walk, face carefully covered of course, in case I am allergic to trees! Anyone who’s got any ideas please post a comment.
