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| Chapter 3 - Waiting |
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“What do you mean by ‘type of cancer’? He’s got AML hasn’t he?” |
“The tests so far have proved negative for AML. They have also proved negative for all the other cancers we have investigated. The cells look like AML cells but we cannot confirm the exact nature of the disease.” |
I remain silent for a while. How do you take in this sort of information? Surely Max had relapsed with AML? How could he possibly have another cancer? How could they not know? Where was the doubt? |
“Are you telling me he has another cancer as well as leukaemia or instead of leukaemia?” |
“I’m so sorry Allan. We just don't know at the moment. I know that you and Sara will not have been sleeping lately and I can assure you I will not sleep properly until we can find out what is wrong with Max.” |
His voice quivered slightly during the last sentence. He meant it. |
Two weeks later we got the official diagnosis. |
This time we were seen by another consultant. The reason that she was to become our primary consultant soon became obvious. We learnt that we were not dealing with our familiar disease called Acute Myeloid Leukaemia but with another with the daunting name of Rhabdomyosarcoma*2 . There were two forms of this disease. One had a good prognosis, the other had a not so good prognosis. Déjà vu. The hospital could not, at this stage, determine the type of the disease. |
In the following week we got the news that the cancer had moved to Max’s spine and that his vertebrae were crumbling. Max had rapidly become immobilised and had extreme difficulty in walking. Although Max’s disability was yet again devastating, it was not our prime concern. Our concern then was whether the disease would or had spread to the brain. It is very difficult to treat cancer once it has moved to the brain because the body uses natural barriers to block the chemotherapy from reaching this part of the body. |
*1 Acute Myeloid Leukaemia *2 Commonly reffered to as RMS or Rhabdo |
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