The story of Cliff
Cliff & Linda Whitefoot’s story.
My tale is similar to so many others with this disease, I thought I’d tell you about it from the beginning, well not totally from the beginning but from before I was diagnosed with Allergic Bronchopulmonary Aspergillosis and the lead up to it and how it has affected both my family and I. It all started in the early autumn of 2015, with a visit to see my G.P as I had a really nasty chest infection, I was wheezing and rattling like an 80 a day smoker, which I’m not I gave up smoking 10 years or so previously, well the usual round of antibiotics just didn’t cut it and so onto a second visit in the late autumn as I was feeling really ill at this time and constantly coughing and coughing up tiny little black bits that can only be described as looking like poppy seeds. So more, stronger and hopefully more effective antibiotics should do the job, but in the meantime I needed to go for some chest x-rays, just as a precaution and to see what’s going on. The doctor also noted that I had the same symptoms around the same time the previous couple of years.
Well that went well, I had the chest x-rays done on the Thursday evening and on the following Tuesday while I was at work, I received a phone call from my GP; now this in itself is unusual for our practice as the doctor herself rang me. She needed to see me as soon as possible and she wouldn’t tell me over the phone what was wrong, just that she needed to see me that day and made me an appointment for that evening. I said I reckon I’ve got an idea what you’re going to say but she would not budge. We duly arrived at the surgery around 5-ish, our then doctor proceeded to tell she who must be obeyed and I that they had found a large mass on my upper right lung and that it was 99.5% certain to be Lung Cancer. That went down well!!
Things started to progress quickly from here, the following Saturday saw me at the local hospitals Cancer centre for a CT-Scan with contrast, the results of which would be back at my doctors in the next few days. We return to the doctors in the following week to be told that they are 99.5% certain that this mass is lung cancer and that I now need to see the Cancer people ASAP and they got me an emergency appointment in a few days.
A few days later she who must be obeyed and I turn up to my hastily arranged appointment with the Cancer Doctor and after viewing the chest x-rays and CT-scan he is 99.5% certain it’s lung cancer. In the meantime we had to do the hardest thing that we have ever had to do and that is to tell the kids that I have a 99.5% chance of Lung cancer, watching the two kids go through the range of emotions that they went through was probably worse than being told I had the Cancer in the first place, the other heartbreaking thing for me was having to tell my mum and to try and keep calm and level headed when all around us was going to hell and then having to tell my brother who lives overseas, over the phone was difficult enough but trying to keep calm was even harder.
The Cancer Doctor now decides I need more tests and an urgently arranged Bronchoscopy and lung biopsies are set up for me at another local hospital. The lung biopsy result comes back no cancer and the mass has gone. they have no idea what is happening. We believe the constant bringing up rubbish for the next few days after the biopsies that is where the mass has gone. That is however only our opinion, as it was we were now left in a kind of limbo nobody seemed to know what was going on and none of the professionals either informed us or had much idea what the mass was or where it had gone. We were then discharged from the care of the Cancer clinic with no further follow ups from anyone at the hospital. The sense of relief when we told the kids that there was NO cancer was amazing and the sense of shear bliss when we told my mum was unbelievable, I can’t put into words how I felt telling my brother but it was a feeling as though the whole world had been lifted.
That Autumn and early Winter was a period of absolute hell for us as a couple and my heart goes out to anyone who doesn’t get the good news that we got. So another 12 months or so goes by and around September 2016, I’m hit with yet another really bad chest infection, by this time the GP who had been dealing with me had left the practice and I was now being seen by a young Doctor who once again didn’t like the sound of the rattle and wheeze in my chest and once again I was prescribed two separate lots of antibiotics without much effect. This time not only did I have the horrendous cough with lots of rubbish including the ‘little black seeds’ there was also some really hard chunks of mucus. I was breathless, very tired, weary, no energy and lacking in sleep.
More tests were scheduled and after yet another CT-Scan another large mass was found,this time in the lower left lung, Once again nobody had a much of a clue as to why it had reappeared or why it had jumped lungs. Anyway my now regular GP could see that we were both getting stressed by this and she referred us to a particular Consultant at our local respiratory clinic, who on seeing me promptly ordered more Blood and sputum tests as she had an idea what may be going on but wouldn’t confirm to us until she had all the facts, especially after the “Cancer not Cancer” scare. Another appointment with the respiratory clinic quickly followed on from these blood and sputum tests, the Respiratory Dr was almost sure that we had a thing called A.B.P.A. which we had never heard of. More blood tests done to look for certain markers along with more sputum tests and she referred me to our County hospital for yet another Bronchoscopy with biopsies and lung lavage (wash out the lungs).Now the lung biopsies and lavage of both lungs was the most unpleasant procedure I think I have ever gone through, but it is through the lavage that an awful lot more rubbish is coughed out.
A week or so went by and we had to go to see the respiratory Doctor again and it was as she guessed, with all the tests that had been done she had confirmed A.B.P.A and referred me to Professor Denning’s Clinic at the National Aspergillosis Centre,Wythenshawe.