The story so far...

Hello friends of Philip. This is a long post to give you the story of the last month when things went (to use Philip's words) "pear-shaped".

Philip had been feeling less upbeat than usual during 2015, culminating in both Philip and Maureen wondering if he may be depressed.

He and Maureen visited Jocelyn and her family in Brisbane for Christmas 2015. Shortly after returning on 30 December 2015, Philip developed pain in his chest, neck and back, which he attributed to hefting around his 12kg granddaughter. He took to bed but still wasn't better by New Year's Day.

Maureen encouraged him to see a doctor, and one made a house call that day. Strained muscles were diagnosed and Philip was encouraged to take strong painkillers and keep moving until the muscles healed. The doctor also noted a "crackling" sound in his chest and suggested he see his GP if he wasn't better in a few days.

On 7 January 2015, still not feeling better, Philip went to a bulk-billing GP clinic (his regular doctor was on leave) and saw a doctor who referred Philip for a chest X-ray.

The chest X-ray results went to his GP who called him in on 14 January and told him he had pneumonia. He was offered either treatment at home or to go to hospital. Philip chose hospital and went to Calvary Hospital the next day. After a 24 hour stint in emergency he was admitted and moved to the MAPU (assessment) ward. There the results of a blood test showed significant anaemia.

In hospital other doctors now looked at the initial chest X-ray and believed they could see more than pneumonia, so Philip was booked in for a bronchoscopy to visually inspect and take a biopsy of a suspicious mass in his right lung. It was booked for Wednesday 20 January.

On 18 January, with beds in short supply at Calvary, the hospital decided to discharge Philip. He was asked to pick up his bag and carry it to reception and was told there were no trolleys available. In the process of carrying his heavy bag Philip felt a lump come up in his groin. A doctor was called who pronounced it an inguinal hernia of the groin. The doctor massaged the lump back inside his abdominal wall but shortly afterwards it popped out again.

Because of the risk of the hernia choking blood supply to essential parts (such as his bowel) a CT scan was conducted. The scan revealed it was only a lump of fat protruding through the abdominal wall, not a piece of bowel, which meant the hernia was downgraded in urgency (it will be operated on in a month or so). However the CT scan appeared to pick up something else at the base of Philip's spine and perhaps something in the area of the bowel and/or liver.

By this stage all sorts of scans were being booked. A brain scan shortly afterwards showed nothing suspicious. A colonoscopy and gastroscopy were booked for 25 January.

The date on the bronchoscopy rolled around on 20 January. The results came in on 23 January. They had found a "poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma" in Philip's right lung. This is an aggressive form of cancer, which more often occurs as a secondary cancer, but can also be a primary cancer. A primary bowel cancer and secondary lung cancer seemed most likely at this stage, with the colonoscopy to reveal all.

Philip's digestive tract was scoped from end to end on 25 January and they found...nothing suspicious! This was Philip's first good news in a while.

With the shadow seen in the first CT scan around the bowel/liver/spine still a mystery, Philip has now joined the queue for the Rolls Royce of scans -  a PET scan - most likely to be done some time in the week beginning 1 February to find out what, if anything, is amiss in southern parts.

Philip is not yet sure whether he will see an oncologist before or after the PET scan results are in, as the outcome may affect decisions about recommended treatment.

That's where things stand as at 26 January. When there is more to report we will report it here, so stay tuned.