Sleepless nights, a loss of sensation and the niggling feeling that something wasn’t right.
A Sydney journalist has revealed how her brain cancer was misdiagnosed as a calcium deficiency.
Boel Eriksson, 31, shared her story with news.com.au in a touching first person piece that revealed the horror behind her ordeal.
It may have started with insomnia but Eriksson was soon rendered unable to perform such simple tasks as typing at her desk, carrying her handbag and even applying mascara.
The 31-year-old visited her doctor multiple times and received solutions for each symptom – sleeping pills for the insomnia, antidepressants for her depression – but was given no hint of a larger more menacing issue.
On her third visit, her desperation forced her to use his own pen to demonstrate the severity of her condition.
"I even grabbed my GP’s pen to demonstrate how my right hand struggled to grab it, and how I couldn’t use the pen to write with," she said.
The doctor allegedly said the loss of sensation was to do with a calcium deficiency and referred her for a blood test as well as a psychologist's appointment.
"I’ll never forget the look on the doctor’s face when he pointed to the big, black blob on my brain, describing the 'growth' as 'very concerning'," she said.
"I was in shock, but at the same time I was relieved - I wasn’t just imagining things!"
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