Pleural effusion

By 21 Nov 2011, I was having shortness of breath again and feeling pain and stiffness on my lower back, so I went to the emergency walk-in clinic.  The doctor on duty ordered x-rays for my chest and abdomen.  The pleural effusion on my left chest cavity was back, but it was not so bad that the doctor saw no necessity to order a pleural tap.

I had an appointment with my oncologist on 5 Dec, 2011 and I went for a blood test on 1 Dec, 2011.  I had the results on 5 Dec 2011 and the cancer marker had gone up to 278.

An MRI on my lumbar spine was arranged for 7 Dec 2011.

The MRI report stated that :
"Multiple bone lesions consistent with diffuse metastasis, involving both anterior and posterior elements of the vertebrae and pelvic bones.  A few of these lesions are expansile and pretrude into the spinal canal."

This probably explained why I kept getting pain on the nerves of my legs, and muscle pulls around the thigh region.  It was so bad that once, while changing into x-ray garb, the inner muscle on my right thigh pulled so badly that I could hardly walk out of the changing room and had to use a wheelchair for the x-ray.

An appointment to see the oncologist was fixed for me on 12 Dec 2011.

By 12 Dec 2011, I was in a really bad shape.  The pleural effusion was really bad.  I was breathing heavily with every single small action.  The oncologist was concerned enough to ask for a wheelchair for me and suggested that I should be warded.   An ambulance was arranged to transfer me from the National Cancer Centre to the ward.