A new mum has issued a warning to women after feeling tired on returning to work turned out to be a symptom of cancer.
Eilidh Dewar was rushed to hospital after being diagnosed with leukaemia hours after going to see her GP. The 39-year-old initially thought her tiredness was down to returning to work as an emergency service worker after becoming a mum.
But her GP immediately recognised she had symptoms of a more serious illness. Hospital blood tests confirmed she had acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APML) and she was rushed to the Beatson cancer centre to begin immediate treatment.
Eilidh, from Oban, began to get huge, black bruises across her entire stomach, chest and sides of my legs.
She said: “These bruises seemed to get even more black rather than getting better, so I made an appointment with my GP. My GP took bloods and told me to pack a bag for the local hospital where I would stay overnight for a transfusion. I went home and picked up our 18-month-old daughter, Izzy, from nursery in between times.”
A second blood test confirmed that Eilidh had APML but she was told the condition was highly treatable. She was taken to the Beatson in Glasgow where chemotherapy began.
Eilidh said: “That night, I saw the other women in the ward who had lost their hair through treatment and it just further added to the disbelief of my situation. In the beginning, I felt great, incredible actually, since I was being pumped full of steroids.
"I ate so much food and got to know the staff and patients, finding my sanctuary in the patient wellbeing centre, which was luckily on my floor. However, things went downhill when the chemotherapy really hit. I got a horrible infection with a temperature of 40.2 degrees and was in high acuity (acute care).
"Just prior to that, I’d had my head shaved as my hair had died and fallen out. I thought I wouldn’t be bothered about it but when it happened, I couldn’t look in the mirror.
"After three days bed-ridden, I was able to go for a wash and the incredible nurses taped a bin bag to the bathroom mirror, so I didn’t have to look at myself.”
It was the fourth week before she made it back to her own ward. Eilidh said: “The wind had been totally knocked out of my sails but I was on the way back.”
After she was discharged, she returned to hospital for another round of chemotherapy but a bone marrow biopsy had already shown the cancer had gone. A check-up in July this year found her to still be in remission.
Eilidh said: “If you feel fatigued in any way, spot unusual bruises or find yourself unable to move out of the shower in the morning, then go to the GP. You could be like me and on chemotherapy in five hours flat.”
●Visit www.spotleukaemia.org.uk
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