LAST SEPTEMBER we were taken up with the usual preoccupations, like, should we put an extension onto the house? Then I was diagnosed with a tumour at the back of my nose. Everything went on hold.
I’ve been told that this type of tumour is extremely rare. One doctor described it as a “slow and silent tumour” because there are few symptoms. I was lucky that it was caught. It was almost by chance.
I had a slight problem with the vision on the right side of my right eye. While on holidays in Skibbereen we went to an optician to get glasses for my daughter. I asked the optician, Mary Conneely, to check out my glasses – I was sure that it was just a case of my new varifocals not working properly. She had a look, said she was not happy and told me to see my GP when I got home. Without her I don’t think it would have been caught so early.
That was in July. By September I was with a consultant ophthalmologist at the Blackrock Clinic. She held my hand as she told me I had a tumour.
I was told the tumour was growing back into my brain and was close to my optic nerve and it was important that this was not interfered with during the treatment. Otherwise I was faced with partial or total blindness.
Oddly, I have been very calm throughout the whole experience. Everyone’s confidence in the treatment I have been receiving has instilled confidence in me.
First I underwent surgery in Beaumont Hospital to remove as much of the tumour as possible. That was tough. It lasted for 18 hours. There were two surgical teams on hand, one from the neurosurgical department and one from the ENT department.
Then it was straight over to St Luke’s Hospital to begin radiotherapy.
Because of the proximity of the tumour to my optic nerve the radiation was going to be tricky. They had to avoid hitting any good cells.
Luckily new machines had been installed in St Luke’s, which are designed to deal with cases where absolute precision is required, otherwise I would have had to travel abroad for the treatment. The company I work for, Cyril Sweett, was one of the companies involved in the installation of these four new machines.
The planning undertaken in advance of my first radiotherapy session was impressive. The team at St Luke’s spent up to three weeks planning it. They even did a simulation in advance to make sure they hit the right spot. The treatment itself is fine. It lasts for about 15 minutes and a moulded mask, like a lattice of spaghetti strands, holds my head in position while the radiation machine rotates around my head.
There are side effects. I have lost some of my hair, my eyes suffer from a form of conjunctivitis and I have a permanently blocked nose, which causes trouble sleeping.
My wife Eileen and I were honest with our children. They have coped very well and seem to assume and presume that I will get better.
The hardest bit I think for them was when they came to visit me a week and a half after the surgery in Beaumont. I had 70 staples in my head.
If I had been forced to go abroad for treatment it would have been so different. I am so lucky.
We live in Mount Merrion and I was able to go home every evening, after the treatment and see my children.
I attend a dietitian at St Luke’s every week to make sure I am eating right, because I need high energy levels to fight this.
I am on lots of supplements and must eat lots of high calorie foods like chocolate, full fat milk, ice cream and cheese.
As a quantity surveyor I like to break things down. I think one’s experience of illness can be broken down into three areas – treatment, patient experience and support. I have been blessed in all three departments.
I couldn’t have got through any of this without my wife Eileen. The help from family, neighbours and work has also been incredible.
Neighbours have delivered hot dinners in the evening and freshly baked bread in the morning. My family has helped with looking after our three girls – Catherine (14), Grace (11) and Claire (10) – and work has been very supportive as well.
The treatment I have received has been second to none. It takes a cast of thousands to do something like this. I don’t know the half of them.
Despite all the talking down of the health service my patient experience in both hospitals has been exceptional.
In particular the atmosphere in St Luke’s is fantastic. At times it does not even feel like a hospital. There are no speed ramps or parking machines when you come in and everyone knows your name.
I can honestly say that I have never woken up in the morning and said “ah no, not another day of radiotherapy”.
I have 30 radiotherapy treatments done and only two to go.The treatment will keep working for a further two weeks after the last session and I’m told the side effects will start to reduce after four to six weeks.
After that I don’t know. I haven’t asked my doctor when the next scan will be or what my prognosis is.
For me it is one step at a time. If you look too far ahead you will fall over.
If you have had a health experience – good or bad – that you would like to talk about, contact: healthsupplement@irishtimes.com
New precision radiation machines: how they work
Before the arrival of the four new electa synergy machines in St Luke’s Hospital last September Shane Boyd would have had to travel abroad for treatment to save his sight, says Dr Clare Faul, consultant radiation oncologist.
Shane was diagnosed with a very unusual tumour, an ethmoid sinus tumour, she explains. Only one or two such cases are seen each year in Beaumont Hospital and Faul sent her last patient with a similar tumour to Canada for treatment.
The tumour developed in the sinus area but had penetrated through the base of skull and invaded Shane’s brain, coming close to the optic chiasm (the main nerve that supplies vision to both eyes).
It was a fairly bulky tumour that measured around 6cms, says Faul.
After extensive surgery in Beaumont Hospital, with near removal of the tumour, Shane needed a radical course of radiation treatment involving a high dose of radiation to help improve the chances of curing his cancer.
The big challenge in delivering a high dose of radiation was the location of the tumour and the sensitivity of the surrounding structures, such as the eyes and optic chiasm to radiation.
IMRT (intensity modulated radiation therapy) was used to treat Shane. “This new technology allows the radiation to conform to the shape of the tumour and reduces the exposure of the surrounding critical structures to damaging radiation.”
In addition, the imaging system in the machine maps the precise location of the target inside Shane on a day-to-day basis correcting any minor changes during his course of therapy, she adds.
“Without the availability of this new technology Shane would have had a significant chance of becoming blind as a direct consequence of his treatment and certainly, in the past, I have referred similar patients to Shane abroad for treatment.
“Happily, thanks to the significant investment in radiation technology in Ireland, Shane can receive this state-of-the-art treatment at home close to his family.”
This treatment is available to both public and private patients and up to 400 patients can be treated a year on each of the machines.