I WISH I’D KEPT A DIARY OF MY SYMPTOMS

Janet Peacock, 61, a nurse, lives with her husband David, an accountant, in truro, cornwall, and has four children. DURING a training exercise in January 2020, a student measured my blood oxygen level at 93. A healthy level is between 95 and 100. It is a real red flag and can mean something is seriously wrong but I stupidly told the students it was probably a mistake.

I’ve since gone over why I dismissed it. I thought I was too busy. I’ve seen so many timewasters in the NHS that it has pushed me the other way, to ignore signs.

It wasn’t even my first symptom. I’d had consistent pain in my left leg for months, which radiated from my bottom. My GP said it sounded like sciatica and recommended painkillers, which I’d been taking anyway.

Then I started suffering from bloating and by May 2020, my oxygen levels fell as low as 88. This time my GP sent me for an X-ray, which showed pleural effusion, where the lining of the lung had filled with fluid. I blamed a flu I had months earlier and went home, but within days was back in A&E.

Doctors said they wanted to do a CA125 test to measure a protein that can indicate ovarian cancer. A healthy reading should be 35 — mine was over 700. Days later, on my 60th birthday, I got my diagnosis of ovarian cancer. My breathlessness and pain were caused by the 5cm x 6cm tumour. It was Stage 4, having spread beyond the ovaries, and incurable.

I had surgery in July 2020 to remove my ovaries and tumour, followed by chemotherapy. But the cancer returned within months and I’m now on a drug called niraparib, a tablet that slows cancer growth.

I don’t blame my GP. The situation was dire due to Covid and I ignored my symptoms.

I don’t know how long I have left. Most people in my situation live for two years. My goal is to have another Christmas.

If I’d kept a symptom diary, I could have put two and two together and who knows where I would be right now.