{"id":27005,"date":"2024-06-21T11:03:02","date_gmt":"2024-06-21T10:03:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/opa.org.uk\/?p=27005"},"modified":"2024-06-21T12:00:21","modified_gmt":"2024-06-21T11:00:21","slug":"mike-ashton-oesophagus-cancer-survivor-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/opa-old.voidappsdev.uk\/?p=27005","title":{"rendered":"Mike Ashton- Oesophagus Cancer Survivor Story"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>My name is Mike, I suppose I deserved my cancer!<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-style: inherit;\">After years of smoking, drinking alcohol to excess and bad diet choices I suffered with acid reflux and was diagnosed with a hiatus hernia in 1987 at a Bupa Hospital in Harpenden, but wasn\u2019t told anything about what to do or what it could lead to.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-style: inherit;\">Fast forward to around July 2017 when I had a medication review, by this time it was being controlled by tablets and Endoscopies. I was told I was overdue for an endoscopy which I thought was recent, turned out it was 6 years ago rather than every year that they suggested.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-style: inherit;\">The following fortnight I made an appointment with the doctor for 3 things.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I had burnt my armpits using a new flavour of Right Guard deodorant.<\/li>\n<li>I was getting bad night cramps<\/li>\n<li>I had a strange feeling in my tummy which was a tummy ache, just strange and had been there for about 2 weeks.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Little did I know that that tin of Right Guard was to save my life!<\/p>\n<p>I was given a cream for my armpits. Tablets for the night cramps and\u00a0sent for an Endoscopy a week later.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-style: inherit;\">I was sent a letter from the consultant asking me to attend an appointment at Bedford Hospital where they conducted the endoscopy on 4th October 2017 and I was told I had a cancer at the base of my oesophagus where it joined the stomach.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-style: inherit;\">They had already had a video call meeting to discuss my case with Addenbrooks Hospital.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-style: inherit;\">I left the appointment that I attended on my own and cried when I got in my car. I rang my wife who was at work and told her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-style: inherit;\">An appointment was made to try a laser endoscopy to burn it out but it wasn\u2019t an option then to see one of only 6 surgeons in the country who could do key hole surgery to remove my oesophagus and stretch my stomach to replace it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-style: inherit;\">On January 30th 2018 (isn\u2019t it funny that you remember the exact dates ) I had a 8.5 hour operation in which they also sewed up a hernia and took my appendix out while they were there.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-style: inherit;\">The operation was a complete success and no need for chemotherapy or radiotherapy.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-style: inherit;\">I was supposed to be in for 3 nights and come out with a feeding tube. Unfortunately, I complicated it by having a stroke on ICU the next day. It wiped out my right side completely, I woke up 12 days later, with a tracheotomy and not being able to move.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-style: inherit;\">I was in hospital and rehab until 21st June 2018.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-style: inherit;\">Here I am 6 years later, can eat well, can walk and use my right arm, still have right side weakness and only one step away from a face plant but a survivor.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-style: inherit;\">I am a typical bloke who didn\u2019t look after myself and left things too long, but well done for burning my armpits Right Guard!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My name is Mike, I suppose I deserved my cancer! After years of smoking, drinking alcohol to excess and bad diet choices I suffered with acid reflux and was diagnosed with a hiatus hernia in 1987 at a Bupa Hospital in Harpenden, but wasn\u2019t told anything about what to do or what it could lead to. Fast forward to around July 2017 when I had a medication review, by this time it was being controlled by tablets and Endoscopies. I was told I was overdue for an endoscopy which I thought was recent, turned out it was 6 years ago rather than every year that they suggested. The following fortnight I made an appointment with the doctor for 3 things. I had burnt my armpits using a new flavour of Right Guard deodorant. I was getting bad night cramps I had a strange feeling in my tummy which was a tummy ache, just strange and had been there for about 2 weeks. Little did I know that that tin of Right Guard was to save my life! I was given a cream for my armpits. Tablets for the night cramps and\u00a0sent for an Endoscopy a week later. I was sent [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":27008,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Mike Ashton- Oesophagus Cancer Survivor Story - The OPA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mike Ashton- Oesophagus Cancer Survivor Story - The OPA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My name is Mike, I suppose I deserved my cancer! After years of smoking, drinking alcohol to excess and bad diet choices I suffered with acid reflux and was diagnosed with a hiatus hernia in 1987 at a Bupa Hospital in Harpenden, but wasn\u2019t told anything about what to do or what it could lead to. Fast forward to around July 2017 when I had a medication review, by this time it was being controlled by tablets and Endoscopies. I was told I was overdue for an endoscopy which I thought was recent, turned out it was 6 years ago rather than every year that they suggested. The following fortnight I made an appointment with the doctor for 3 things. I had burnt my armpits using a new flavour of Right Guard deodorant. I was getting bad night cramps I had a strange feeling in my tummy which was a tummy ache, just strange and had been there for about 2 weeks. Little did I know that that tin of Right Guard was to save my life! I was given a cream for my armpits. Tablets for the night cramps and\u00a0sent for an Endoscopy a week later. 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