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Two Years On
Two years ago today I attended my first colposcopy appointment. I was 29 years old and I had just had my second baby. I was pretty much exuding happiness, tired happiness, but happiness nonetheless. Cancer. It’s a word none of us want to hear, ever. Not for ourselves or for those around us. It’s deceitful, it’s cunning and sly. It hides and it eludes is. It puts those who are diagnosed with it through hell (and that’s putting it mildly). It’s the word I heard by the end of that first appointment. As time goes by I become increasingly aware that I’m able to examine this memory from different angles.…
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A long overdue update
Oh goodness, it’s been such a long time since I did a proper update. Things have been hard in so many ways. Now I’m just trying to think of where to begin to really update you. I guess a while back in July seems a good place to start, when I first heard the term “long term prospects” and was told that palliative care would be starting to had over to the pain clinic. This was amazing news but with the end of my radiotherapy came the beginning of my neuropathy. Neuropathic pain is notoriously hard to manage. There are drugs available to help but they often aren’t the loan…
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A Health Update – My Stent & I.
Since May 2018 I have had a stent in my right ureter. Not to be confused with urethra. (Quick biology lesson: ureters run from kidney to bladder. Phew, it really was quick!) My pelvic tumour was pressing on it, causing my right kidney to become every so slightly enlarged because it was having to work ever so slightly harder than it was to pump urine down to the bladder. (Hence why kidney pain can be a symptom of advanced cervical cancer) These stents are temporary and need changing every 4-6 months. My first one barely made itself known until just before it was due to be whipped out and replaced,…
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Remission
This part of my life is something that is worthy of more than one insta post. It’s massive, beyond all understanding. It was entirely unexpected and triggered a whole host of wild emotions. Elation, total pure joy, disbelief, fear. Remission was unexpected. I remember being told that the cancer was incurable and asking if remission was a possibility. My oncologist told me that it wasn’t, the term remission was usually held for cancers like leukaemia, not cervical. It was then she told me that the cancer was “life shortening” (her exact words) and she progressed to give me 5 years left to live. That moment is one that will be…
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But It’ll Never Happen to Me
Today is a crazy day for me! My story is in three national papers currently. Little old me, thanks to this blog and my post of my pills that went utterly viral and is still being posted on to this day. I want to thank everyone who shared that post because it led to the lovely Hannah Smith finding me and going through my blog, Hannah heard my story from the beginning and was keen to help me get my story out there, and for that I am so thankful. So, thank you Hannah – if you are reading this – you are really a heroine to me. Thank you…
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An Unexpected Update
We got an unexpected call from my oncology team, Friday evening to give us some news that niether of us were expecting. My scan had shown many small blood clots in my pelvis and lungs, and I needed to begin treatment, fast.
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Stay Cervix Savvy
It’s great to see so many people posting about smear testing and how important it is, but having been diagnosed in between smears, I want to remind you all to stay cervix savvy always.
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I Don’t Know How
I don’t know how to put this chapter of my life to bed. The one that saw me diagnosed with cervical cancer at 29. The one that put me back on a surgeons operating table, for better or worse.
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But, I am not Brave
For those who do not know, in December I was told it was “highly likely” I had cervical cancer. In early January this was confirmed, the next day I met with a surgeon who talked through the procedure I required.
