What cancer does Hannah actually have?
Hannah is a 26 year old female recently diagnosed with osteosarcoma of her right distal femur. The cancer is localized and treatment aims to be curative.
In plain english, she has a rare form of bone cancer called osteosarcoma with a worldwide incidence of 3.4 people per million per year. This type of cancer generally occurs in adolescents and young adults, most commonly in the femur (thigh bone) or humerus (upper arm bone) but can occur in other bones. Hannah’s cancer is localized, which means it is only in the one spot and has not spread to other parts of the body, if the cancer has spread to other areas, most commonly the lungs, this is called metastasis.
The big question everyone is desperate to ask whenever the hear of someone discovering they have cancer - HOW DID SHE KNOW?!
I was lucky and I had a symptom. Osteosarcoma is generally diagnosed, as mine was, by X-ray or MRI after experiencing bone pain. I had pain after running in my right knee for months that didn’t improve as much as I tried to rehab it. Keeping active and finally getting a scan saved my life.
Some medical terminology you’ll come across in these resources
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is a drug treatment that uses chemicals to kill fast-growing cells in your body, such as cancer cells, which grow and divide at a rapid rate.
Many of the side effects of chemotherapy are associated with killing other fast-growing cells in your body, such as your hair, the cells in your mouth (causing mouth ulcers), skin and nails can also be affected.
There are various ways chemotherapy can be administered, these include intravenously, orally (such as taking a pill), there are chemotherapy creams and in some cases chemotherapy can be administered directly to the cancerous tumor. There are over 100 different types of chemotherapy and an individual may have one or multiple types concurrently as part of their treatment cycle.
Port-a-cath
My friends refer to my port as a USB port and it is a nice way to think of it. Essentially a plug in my chest to deliver treatment or fluids or draw blood from without needing a needle into my arm each time. I’m very grateful for my port-a-cath, the veins in my arms would have been destroyed by now without it.
The port is placed under the skin, usually in the right side of the chest. It is attached to a catheter (a thin, flexible tube) that is guided (threaded) into a large vein above the right side of the heart called the superior vena cava.
A needle is inserted through the skin into the port to draw blood or give fluids and other treatments. A port-a-cath may stay in place for many weeks, months, or years.