
I was bike riding the French Riviera in France when I first felt it. As I was pedalling uphill, I felt something hard push against my thigh. I was in France with a beautiful view, and I didn’t want to ruin the moment, so I put aside the pain and kept cycling. It took everybody else in my cycle group 40 minutes to complete the tour, but it took me one and a half hours, and by the end of it, I was in agony. I knew something was wrong.
Several days into my trip, the pain started to get worse. I went to a pharmacist and asked for some pain medication. I explained my symptoms to her, and she thought I had a cold and gave me strong cough medicine. Twenty Euros later, and I was good to go. I eventually managed to get through my 15-day trip, heavily medicated, which helped me ignore my symptoms, but not for long.
A few months later, the pain was back, but this time it was met with vomiting and migraines. I took the day off work and headed straight to the doctor, who thought I had a really bad urinary tract infection.
After a few days, I could feel that the lump on my lower left side had grown, so I rushed myself to the doctor, yet again.
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