Suzanne's Story

“From the moment I was diagnosed, I became palliative. It’s about the journey you take along the way”

I was diagnosed on 6 October 2023, and I finished work on 24 October 2023.

From the moment I was diagnosed, I became palliative. It’s about the journey you take along the way.

That May I had no signs of cancer. At the end of May I ended up with COVID and got over it, but I got this cough that I could not shake. At work they wanted to make sure that I was not contagious, so I had to do COVID tests every day. Every test came back negative.

I went to the doctor, and he did an X-ray that showed I had laryngitis and bronchitis. I’ve had no voice since July last year. I now know why, but back then they couldn’t tell me why my voice wasn’t coming back. I’ve always had voice dysplasia, so it sounds like my voice cracks.

I did what they asked. I took antibiotics and kept going back. And then at the beginning of September I went to the doctor, I said: ‘Enough is enough. It’s not going away. What’s going on?’

So, the doctor sent me for another X-ray which showed I’d had pneumonia for six weeks. I went back to the doctor again and told him that it wasn’t going away. He sent me off for a CT scan and then came back and told me I had lung cancer.

The doctor was looking around the room, trying to work out how he was going to say it.

‘I’ve got the results’, he said.

‘What are they?’, I replied.

‘What do you think they are?, he said.

‘Well with the way you’re not sure what to say or how to say it, I’d say its cancer,’ I replied.

He said, ‘Yes, I’m sorry. It’s lung cancer’. 

‘Oh well, not much I can do about it,’ I said.

He said: ‘Look, the quickest thing for you to do is to go and sit in Emergency, because if I send you off for a referral, it could be three months before you get an appointment, and that’s if you’re lucky’.

So, my husband and I went off and sat in the hospital all day on the Saturday. I was in pain from the sitting and I couldn’t even walk far at that stage because I was getting so breathless.

Eight hours later, I finally saw a doctor. And he said that he’d refer me to the Lung Clinic and that somebody would be in touch with me in about 14 days.

On Monday morning, 10 o’clock, they phoned and told me they wanted to see me for an appointment on Thursday. They must have been worried enough to get me in that early. Then I had a PET scan.

It revealed that I have Stage 4 lung cancer with Mets in sternum, spine, lower back, pelvis and left buttock. I also found out I had it in my right eye. I ended up in hospital to get my pain under control. I was exhausted and in hospital for about a week.

The first treatment option didn’t work so I have radiation and chemo. The treatment has thinned out more hair. I’m one of the lucky few that can take this drug which was the first option for treatment. No one ever knows what’s around the corner. The next [treatment] option could be just a day away, a week away, a month away.

My third husband decided he couldn’t cope with the cancer. So, I came back here [to Tasmania], and I’m just doing what I can.

During my journey, I’ve had problems with being heard. When I first came here, the doctor and I clashed. I had been saying all along that the treatment wasn’t working. You need to listen to the patient. There is one, he’s the palliative care doctor. I said to him that doctors need to listen to what the patients are saying. Actually listen. He said, ‘I’m trying to. I’m trainable’.

My advice to someone newly diagnosed with a life limiting illness is enjoy what you can while you can. Do what you can while you can. Don’t think that just because you’ve been given a limitation that it limits what you can do.

If your body says you can’t do it, then don’t do it. There are days when the sun’s shining and you want to go outside and smell the fresh air and there are other days when you just don’t want to do that. And that’s okay. Do what your body tells you. Live every moment.