• Health,  Pain,  Slider

    Chronic Pain & Me

    In December 2017 I was diagnosed with Cervical Cancer for the first time. I didn’t know what “having cancer” would entail and I never expected the level of pain that it would cause me both physically and emotionally. Although I managed to find myself in remission from the cancer itself, it left me with a stark reminder of it: constant pain. We flew through the basic pain killers going from paracetamol to morphine to fentanyl pretty quickly as well as drugs like Gabapentin to try and control the neuropathy that formed in my feet initially due to the chemotherapy. By the time I finished treatment the neuropathy began to spread…

  • Cancer,  Gynae Cancers,  Health

    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.…

  • Health,  Pain

    The Thing about pain management…

    Pain management is a really tricky thing. It’s a like trying to walk through a whirlwind to find the middle of the storm, a place of sanctuary and peace. Once you climb up the opioid ladder there aren’t many places left to go, and it becomes less about medications and more about exploring alternative avenues of pain relief. Acupuncture is highly recommended to help with neuropathic pain (nerve pain from broken or damaged nerves) and also to help with the hot flashes from the menopause. But it IS hard to find an acupuncturist who has the relevant experience of dealing with a cancer patient with damaged nerves, but I’m still…

  • Cancer,  Gynae Cancers,  Health

    Vulval Cancer

    While I was fighting cervical cancer, my aunt was going through Vulval Cancer and it was the first time I’d ever heard of it to be honest. When we think of cancers we mostly assume they are inside the body. Then we think about skin cancer being down to sun exposure, but the vulva isn’t exactly a part of the body you think of getting much sun exposure now is it? So, Vulval cancer is a rare type of cancer affecting women. Vulva is the word we use to describe the external female genitalia including: The lips surrounding the vagina (labia minora and labia majora) The clitoris The Bartholin’s Glands,…

  • Cancer,  Gynae Cancers,  Health

    Cervical Cancer

    Of the five gynaecological cancers this is the one that I have battled. This is the cancer that has robbed me of organs, has caused me so much pain, meant I’ve been through treatment that has stripped my nervous system and left my immune system in tatters. This is the cancer that has made me want to fight to make sure every woman knows her own body and how to ensure she stays healthy ❤️ So, here we go, your very own crash course in cervical cancer: Cervical cancer develops in a woman’s cervix (the entrance to the womb). It’s thought to mainly effect sexually active women between the ages of…