I haven't written for a while and this is April Bowel Cancer awareness month......in terms of symptoms i don't think i can write more than i have see my post symptomatic neglect.
In respect of awareness month i thought i would write about what has changed since being diagnosed with bowel cancer....what happens if you don't get diagnosed in time and you don't know the symptoms....well for me anyway.
Con's
1. Pain certainly i think i was more unusual to have been diagnosed in an emergency and unfortunately for me it wasn't in my local hospital a 15 minute walk from home, it was in Luxor Egypt on holiday. That's when i knew there was a problem.
2. A very uncomfortable plane journey home due to the air pressure on the tumour, not sure why it didn't happen on the way out but very glad that it didn't.
3. Admission to the east surrey and sussex hospital in Redhill, nearest to Gatwick and operation 4 days after landing to remove the tumour after being told that it was likely malignant.
4. Huge scar from just above my belly button to just above my groin, horrible...... bikini's are out tankini's in.
5. Recovering from major surgery
6. Sitting in hospital totally reliant on help from others, having to go to the loo escorted!!!
7. Having very invasive procedures and embarrassing conversations about poo and bowel movements.
8. Having so many CT scans that i have lost count, and before each one having to drink copious amounts of barium meal....looks like milk tastes like orange soooo wrong.
9. Having a dye injection during the CT scan that makes me feel like i will wet myself!....i haven't to date!
10. Two MRI scans ...very noisy!
11. Being told that the cancer had spread to the lungs.
12. Being told after a few months of telling them something was up that there is a tumour in the pelvis.
13. Being told various different things by various professionals about my chance of cure.....second bite of the cherry to there is nothing that can be done....having your hopes dashed!
14. Chemo making me feel ill.
15. Not being able to make plans for the long term future, not seeing grand children, not being part of important days in my boys lives.....leaving my boys motherless at an early age!
15. Chemo and Radio precipitating copious visits to the toliet....often in a hurry!
16. Telling my children that i have cancer.
17. Telling my friends that i have cancer.
18. Telling my family that i have cancer.
Pro's....are there pros in having cancer well yes there are!
1. Losing weight without even trying before and after my op, people thought i looked so well!!!!!
2. Realising the strength of feeling i engender in people, it isn't often that friends make comments so personally, and tell you how much they love you, cancer makes people say what they feel more than they may usually.
3. Having more interest in the world, i can't walk through the park or see a lovely sunny day without thinking how wonderful it is.
4. Having the time to sort out my affairs, not a con so much but really i am lucky in a sence to know that i have! to finish off all those things, photo's sorted, de clutter the house, update my will etc.
5. Meeting fantastic inspiring people through beating bowel cancer, knowing people who are going through the same thing.
6. Retiring early at a time when to have stayed working would have been so diffuicult for me, as social care is going to the wall...... things come to me when i need them...would rather a different way of course. If i stayed till july i would have a 5 grand drop in salery!
7. Having time to tell people how you feel about them and to leave something behind for them in the future, cancer gives you time to plan......
8. Allows you to live in hope.
Ok the con's outweigh the pros as it should, no one wants to have Cancer but i don't think that it comes in a completely negative package.
The best thing is to be aware, know the symptoms
Blood in poo without itching,
Change in bowel habit that last more than 3 weeks esp with looser poo,
Abdominal pain
anaemia
Bowel cancer gets left people don't want to talk about bowel habits, other cancers maybe caught early becuase people are more likely to discuss the symptoms.
But bowel cancer is the second biggest killer of men and women, and it has a 90 percent chance of cure if caught early!!!!!
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