Helena Gylfadóttir, 53, has completed her radiotherapy and is currently undergoing chemotherapy for stage 4 cancer. A cancer that would have been discovered much earlier if doctors had responded to her complaints in a year.
In a post that Helena posted on Facebook yesterday, and which she kindly allowed DV to post, she recounts the day before that she was diagnosed with spinal metastases as well as a synovial fracture in a vertebrate. DV requested an interview with Helena, but she declined due to her medical condition. In the message, Helena criticizes the fact that she was not examined earlier and sent for tests, and the doctors only thought that it was a complication of the transition period.
“There could have been something more innocent about her back than that” were the words Helena’s family doctor said when she told him that the reason for the back pain she had complained of the second year turned out to be spinal metastases. as well as a fractured vertebra.
“However, the metastases were not found with his help, nor with the doctors I had consulted up to that point. They were found when my back became so sore that I literally couldn’t move and the only way was to call an ambulance. I was taken by ambulance on January 7th to the Fossvogur emergency room where imaging clearly revealed what was wrong. The search for the source then began, which took a while, but in the end it turned out that the source was in the breasts and I was told that the cancer was at the so-called 4th stage, they call it incurable at this stage, and the world went collapsed on me and my people with all his might.”
Roller coasters are devastating
Helena says the emotions are endless and the roller coaster that comes with such news is devastating. There’s a lot of fear and sadness, but also a lot of anger, an anger that still rumbles inside her because it wasn’t supposed to be like this.
“It should have been discovered sooner. I have already asked for help, because I was in so much pain, because I had little or no energy, because I had exertional edema. But the answers and help I got was not much help. I was declared an anxious middle-aged woman in transition with fibromyalgia,” says Helena.
No photos have been taken of his back in the past year despite complaints. She was given painkillers and sleeping pills and told to be active. “I who for many years had done a lot of outdoor activities and exercise, I had run half marathons, hard mountain races here and abroad, I had to exercise I was put on hormones to slow the transition, hormones that helped feed the hormone-sensitive breast cancer that lurked with me even though I dutifully had my mammograms.
Unable to work at the end of the year due to pain
In December 2022, Helena received a certificate because she had become unable to work, she received the certificate without an exam. At the beginning of January, she sent an email to her doctor on helilovveru.is, where she described pain in her back and stomach, that she could not work or sleep because of the pain, could not stand or lift things.
“I ask for help.” The answer was that it was musculoskeletal pain. No help, nothing to do. I was overcome with agony at this point. Confused and disoriented. The thoughts that came to me were of all kinds. Am I just not strong enough? Am I imagining this? Am I just an anxious middle-aged woman in a time of change, as the doctors seem to have decided in advance?, Helena says and says that she tried to work, because it might suit the doctor. She says the mental heaviness that accompanies such doubts about her own experience is great.
Helena says she has overcome countless obstacles in the past and plans to overcome this hurdle of cancer with her people and the medical staff she has met in recent weeks. “But the feelings that accompany you through all of this are also hope and optimism, because fortunately the advances in medical science are such that new drugs give us great hope, and I now know that the possibility of making facing this and stopping the progress of the disease is real, i know i have already overcome countless obstacles and i intend to overcome this one with my people and all the wonderful people in the system of health that I have encountered over the past few weeks and who are working with me with dedication and energy to win this fight.
Fights discomfort almost every day
Helena has had a round of radiotherapy and is currently undergoing chemotherapy. She says the side effects are severe and she experiences discomfort almost every day. Little energy because the appetite is rare.
“As I struggle to endure his discomfort and pain each day, the doctor’s words echo in my head: ‘musculoskeletal pain’, ‘fibromyalgia’, ‘keep moving’ and ‘it could have been something. something more innocent than that”. But there is exactly one thing that is certain about this, and that is that it certainly could have been something more innocent, there was no need to mention that in particular.
But inside each day is also strong hope and gratitude for all the good things in my life and we remember as best we can that life is now. Dear doctors, remember that middle-aged women in transition also fall ill with all kinds of diseases. Please listen to me.”
