What the three mothers said “long covid” was actually two signs of cancer

The mother, who experienced persistent sore throat after developing Covid, said the illness saved her life.

Jemma Falloon, 41 years old, positive on first test coronavirus October 2020.

3 mothers from Elsmere Harbor One month later, I had symptoms such as sore throat and back pain, and blood was mixed in my urine. Report MEN..

read more:Mothers with back pain remained “hysteria” as doctors confirmed fear

Jema, who participates in the triathlon, believed that the symptoms were a long sign of Covid. It occurs during or after the virus and can last for more than 12 weeks.

However, after testing in December 2020, the development manager received catastrophic news that she had thyroid and kidney cancer.

Gemma, who lives with her husband, Mark (43), and his children, Louis (17), Magnus (4), and Bronwen (3), said: increase.

“If I was working and not resting, I would have continued as usual.

“I lost a colleague to Covid, and good friends are very poor with it. It’s hard to see the impact on those people, but it’s also that they probably wouldn’t have been found otherwise. It meant that my two cancers were discovered when it would have been.

“I was very lucky.”

Jema, who has currently undergone three surgeries to remove a cancerous tumor, succumbed to Covid-19 during a triathlon training in October 2020 and was “knocked sideways” despite being proud of her strength. “.

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She states: “I had a really hard time going upstairs to the bathroom and having a hard time breathing.

“It took me a while to recover, not just the 10 days I spent in isolation.”

A month later, she was still suffering from a sore throat and noticed a lump in her neck, so she decided to see a doctor. “I wasn’t feeling well yet, but I thought it was probably a long covid.”

Calling her GP, Jema was asked to come for a blood test and test and was quickly referred to Ellesmere Port Hospital for an ultrasound four days later.

Only 48 hours later, her doctor called on her to tell her that a “suspicious nodule” had been found in the thyroid gland, a small gland at the base of the neck that produces hormones.

Jema said: “Within a week, I consulted with a consultant and did a fine needle biopsy, where they stabbed a large needle into their throat and removed a portion of the tumor for examination.”

She was also concerned about back pain and blood passing through her urine.

She states: “I travel a lot by car for work, so I get water when I can’t go to the bathroom when I need it because of the pressure on my bladder. Driving can also cause me back pain. increase.

“But neither of these things were true because I wasn’t working.”

Her GP further ultrasound in the right kidney, suggesting that she may have kidney stones that may be associated with the thyroid gland, just because a mass is detected in the organ. I sent her to do an inspection.

Following an MRI and CT scan, Jema was called to the hospital on New Year’s Eve.

“They told me it was suspected of having cancer and needed surgery as soon as possible,” she said.

“When I was first diagnosed, I was autopilot. I focused only on operations.”

Gemma’s partial nephrectomy (a procedure known as nephrectomy) transferred to Merseyside’s Alowy Park Hospital in Birkenhead was scheduled for mid-February 2021 but was scheduled for March 8 due to Covid. It was postponed to the day.

On the other hand, otolaryngologists were keen on thyroid surgery, but doctors agreed to prioritize this procedure first because the kidneys are the main organ.

Jema, who had to be quarantined 10 days before surgery and 10 days after surgery, said:

“Because it was done by a robot, there were six big wounds on the abdomen instead of one.

“I had a hard time getting up and walking and having a hard time going to the bathroom, so I had to put in a catheter and go home.

“Mentally it was pretty hard. I thought recovery would be easier than before.”

After she stood up, she went under the knife again – because neither form of cancer could be treated with chemotherapy or radiation, this time because of thyroid surgery.

“I’m a very positive person, and as soon as I felt better, I started my next surgery,” she said.

On May 21, at the Countess of Chester Hospital in Cheshire, Cheshire, a surgeon resected half of the thyroid gland and found the most common type of papillary thyroid cancer on the right side of the organ.

Jema said: “The protocol is to remove the entire thyroid gland.”

Her second surgery was performed at the same hospital on June 24, four weeks later, after which lymph nodes were examined.

Currently she is waiting for further scans of her thyroid and kidneys. This will be done every 3, 6 or 12 months for the next 10 years to monitor regrowth. Also, take thyroid drugs daily instead of the thyroxine hormones produced by the organs.

Jema said:

“My kidneys weren’t very good news when they did a biopsy, because there may be a little left, but it was said to be a slow-growing cancer.

“I’m still really tired because I’m trying to manage my thyroid pills and I still have a lot of back pain.

“Given everything, I’m in great shape, but I’m not yet in the” no evidence of illness “stage. “

Another concern for Gemma is the nodule found in her right lung.

She states: “They don’t know if it’s Covid or something else, so they’re doing a full-body scan to monitor their size. If it doesn’t grow at all for five years, it’s classified as non-cancerous.”

She also examines genetic tests to see if she is biologically susceptible to other forms of illness and whether doctors need to watch over her children carefully.

Jema said: I didn’t want him to hear it from others first, so if there were scans or results, I told him and my husband first.

“The little kids knew that mom was poor and couldn’t hug me or jump!”

Gema is now re-adjusting to a normal life and returning to a normal active lifestyle. Thanks to the McMillan nurse for supporting her on a McMillan Mighty hike last month, walking 13 miles in the Lake District with her husband and best friend. Through her treatment.

Jema said: It was really hard, but mentally, it was a good world just to show myself that I could still get out there and do something.

“The nurses were great, and I can’t thank them enough.”

She added: “Last month or so, I started to agree that I have just two primary cancers.

“If you have a sore throat, you may want to ignore it and expect it to go away, but it’s better to check out than leave it alone.

“The sooner they find these things, the more they can deal with them.”

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