Cancer Treatment During COVID-19

Unfortunately you can't press pause on underlying health conditions. They have very little regard for the current pandemic and although many treatments have been postponed (mine included) there are certain things that simply cannot wait, however much we might like them to be!


The past week in our household was pretty shit, to put it plainly and as we have discovered having a bad week during lockdown feels about a thousand times worse, as all feeling and emotions are amplified and you're cut off from your larger support network.

It was a case of enduring rather than embracing our current situation and we coped by letting Oscar watch a hell of a lot more TV, drinking a bit more wine (us not Oscar!!), communicating mainly via passive aggressive comments and going to bed at 7pm.

Our rubbish week was mainly down to two big factors, one of which I've chosen to focus on a lot more than the other, purely because this is a blog about cancer but also because I'm not really sure what to say about the other just yet.

On Saturday last week my Grandma sadly died in her nursing home. On Tuesday we found out that the cause was indeed COVID-19, a not so subtle reminder that made this global pandemic hit home on a very personal level.

The second was because I had my 3 month cystoscopy on Friday at our local hospital. The date of which has been looming heavy over my head for the past three weeks.

There have been so many emotions surrounding one single appointment and its caused rather a lot of stress. I felt guilty for taking up valuable NHS resources during this time. I felt more than ever that my cancer made me a burden. I thought seriously about cancelling and I felt scared, really scared.

For the past six weeks I have only left the house for our daily walks. I have avoided family, friends, and every delivery driver who has come to the door. All on the advice of my consultant. In-fact my own GP rang the other day, just to check in and suggested that I definitely do not go to my hospital appointment as I am too high risk, so that was reassuring...

I didn't even bother trying to explain to him that having a camera put into my bladder would be quite tricky over the phone and as much as I'd love not to go to this appointment I know that not going would be far worse!

You see the thing about bladder cancer is that it has a habit of coming back...mine has come back consistently every three months for almost three years and just before the lockdown I was told that due to every single treatment I've had failing to stop the re-growth, that it might be time to start thinking about bladder removal (this is most definitely another blog post for another time, preferably a time without COVID-19). In the mean time it is clear that without regular checks it increases the risk that my cancer could spread.

So as much as I'd like to not catch the virus, I'd also really like it of my cancer didn't cause an equally or more life threatening situation in the not so distant future.

So there I was, between a rock and a hard place, sweaty palms, racing heartbeat headed into hospital alone...

And y'know what, it was no where near as bad as I'd expected. Yes it was much much quieter, yes staff were wearing masks and there were screens up at reception, but there was still plenty of staff and a few patients too just going about their day, headed to appointments as normal. Even Costa was still going! I had some lovely conversations with the nursing staff who were just as lovely and cheerful as ever and in some ways it was extremely nice to be able to put normal clothes on, leave the house and  have a little bit social interaction.

As soon as I got home I stripped off at the door, threw my clothes in the washing and ran straight to the shower. I didn't go near Oscar or touch anything until I could be sure that I was all clean again and then I could enjoy a quiet afternoon in the sunshine as although not painful in any way, it does leave you feeling a little bit soar after and I'm definitely wiped out from all that adrenaline I had going on earlier.

There is the tiny matter of the results. The biggest advantage of this type of test is you get them instantly, you can even see for yourself on the screen of you like! Turns out it's back, no real shock anymore as I've come to expect it now. Surgery will be happening again in the next few weeks (hopefully) and I'm not half as worried about it now after seeing the hospital first hand today.

It's really tough out there at the moment and I hope everyone is finding ways to keep going and keep their spirits up.

Thanks for reading :)

Katie xxx