SUPPORTING AUDREY AND HER FIGHT WITH CANCER

UPDATE: 7th July 2018

Sadly our loved mother has passed away peacefully at home after a prolonged battle with bowel cancer. She was surrounded by loving family and friends who were shedding tears but sharing jokes, just the way she would have liked it.

The costs remaining from the fundraising are going towards her funeral costs.

We thank you for all your support.

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Financially mum is facing hardship and any support you can provide, to help her meet living expenses and bills, as well as seeking second opinions for her medical treatment, would be a huge weight off her mind. She has limited income coming in but not enough to cover all the mortgage repayments, bills and general living costs.

Dealing with Chemo and the associated side effects is difficult enough without the added stress of figuring out how to pay bills and have a safe place to live.

Here are some words from mum detailing her experiences over this past year:

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How did i get to this stage of my life - well trying to put this in words has taken a number of rewrites :)

The saying that “hindsight is a wonderful thing” really is very apt. All of the ‘what ifs’ and ‘maybe if I had’ mean absolutely nothing and most definitely are not going to change anything.

It all began in 2009 when I experienced stomach pains and over the course of a year my GP indicated that it was just a ‘sluggish bowel’. The one thing I regret is having total faith in my GP and trusting what he said. However, I should’ve been more proactive with my health and safety instead of finally just accepting his diagnosis in 2010. This is something I am now paying for with my life.

I wish I had thought to get copies of the notes written on my file in each visit as I believe I would have been alerted to something being wrong. In February 2017 (after my bowel cancer was diagnosed) I got all my files from my GP to highlight how many times over the years I had told him that my intermittent bloating and bowel issues were still happening. Unfortunately I found that he had never once documented these concerns of mine.

Even worse, there were notes from a locum in 2010 who recommended an endoscopy for me on the basis of these issues.. but my GP had ignored her recommendations. So, please, I urge all of you to ask your Doctor for print outs of your notes, each time, to ensure they are documenting your health concerns/issues.

NOVEMBER 2016

I went to the doctors and luckily for me another Locum was working, who listened to me about my symptoms and immediately considered bowel cancer as a possible cause and ordered tests.

DECEMBER 2016

The results returned and despite seemingly ticking all of the boxes for potential bowel cancer my GP said not to worry and put me on a ‘semi-urgent’ list for a colonoscopy. He also advised the hospital he thought it was ‘only a sluggish bowel’.

FEBRUARY 2017

Someone cancelled their appt on 7 Feb 2017 and I was able to have my colonoscopy. I was diagnosed that day with a tumour. On 16th February a subsequent CT showed it had spread and was Stage 4 cancer, which also meant it was inoperable. A meeting with a surgeon on 24th February confirmed that the doctors didn’t know if it was bowel or ovarian cancer, so a decision was made to do more biopsies and get a gynecologist to assist.

MARCH 2017

Biopsies were done on 10th March but have since found out that no gynecologist was present in theatre. The ovarian tumour was never biopsied nor were any of the lymph nodes. On the 17th March, the surgeon understudy said they would not operate as they didn’t think I stood a chance. He said the specialist wouldn’t be back till April but they’d refer me to Oncology then.

I contacted Oncology myself as I wanted to start something as soon as possible. TDHB oncologist rang back and said she would get me in earlier than the scheduled April date. On the 30th March I started Chemotherapy to delay the inevitable and the following journey was hard with many weeks being nauseous, fatigued and unable to work.

APRIL 2017

In April, the second round of Chemo knocked me back and I was very sick for a few weeks. I never really came right after that due to nausea and fatigue most of the time. I had to stop working but also had to keep fighting to keep my job and negotiate terms to allow me to still get some sick leave. This was incredibly stressful and began a long journey of using any and all my money to just keep paying the bills.

JUNE 2017

Last treatment of the Capox Chemotherapy was on the 1st June but had to pause the treatment due to potassium levels dropping too low. On top of this, I finished all my sick leave I had allocated and had to start looking into what other help I can get as I have no savings to cover my living costs.

JULY 2017

With ensuing issues it was decided I needed to have a loop Ileostomy after news the tumor was narrowing and constricting the bowel. I had surgery and through this whole time was unable to work due to the pain and nausea. The financial impact of this was causing so much additional stress on top of fighting this disease.

AUGUST 2017

Was able to start a less aggressive form of chemo on August 14th after allowing some time for me to recover and adjust to the stoma bag. Was able to get a sickness benefit but sadly it doesn’t cover very much at all.

SEPTEMBER 2017

On 28th September I bent over and felt a snap on my left side (where the bowel tumor is located) and during the day the pain increased exponentially. On the 29th I went to the Emergency Department but the Dr told me it was probably a reaction to the Chemo. I had to go back to the Emergency Dept on the 30th as the pain worsened and I started getting chills and a fever. I had scans and Xrays done and was treated with bags of fluid and antibiotics.

OCTOBER 2017

While trying to deal with the constant back pain at home on the 4th October I passed a seven cm Alien (that is the only way to describe it!) and it immediately alleviated my back pain. Unfortunately a few days later I was told by my oncologist that they had decided not to continue with treatment due to some nodes and the ovary not responding how they want it to.

They keep saying they believe the nodes are cancer as well but have no clinical proof as they were never biopsied. I am incredibly frustrated with this as they have no interest in even confirming what they are so I want to try to get a second opinion, however it is extremely costly and I now have limited income.

I have now been going through the same sickness and symptoms that I had prior to passing the ‘Alien’ and am trying to get someone at TDHB to confirm what it was but am getting no help.

The hospice Dr has confirmed she believes it is part of the tumour breaking away but will do no more investigations as the outcome will still be the same. So if I want to get peace of mind and find out what it is, I will need to get specialist help, which I can’t afford.

I have had to put my house on the market in the hopes that it sells to help me cover all the bills which are mounting, and to help me potentially seek out some second opinions.

Today (OCTOBER 29th 2017)

Through all of this, the most heartbreaking part was having to tell my girls, then family and friends about the news. Seeing how it was affecting them was incredibly hard and is something I still struggle with. Apparently everyone was under the illusion that I was going to be around for ever and they got a hell of a shock to be told it wasn’t the case.

However, most of you who know me know that I am not going to give up without one hell of a fight!

My only chance of medical help is to find Doctors outside Taranaki to see if they have more of a proactive attitude in fighting this disease with me. Our local oncology attitude is only palliative and as far as I’m concerned I’ll fight this disease and give it as much resistance as I can. Maybe I can even be one of those people who come out the other side!

I feel extremely let down by the Taranaki District Health Board and have had to fight from the get go for everything. I have learnt that as a patient in the public health system you get very little say in any decision making around your treatment and tend to be dismissed or not listened to about your health concerns.

At the end of the day I want to stay here as long as I can with my girls - they are my life and I love them very much. Their father has survived in heaven for 28 years without me driving him crazy up there, so he will just have to wait a bit longer if I have my way :)

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