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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…
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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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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…
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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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Ovarian Cancer
My really good friend Stephie Langford endured the hell of Ovarian Cancer when she was in her early 20’s. She managed to beat the odds and smash stage three Ovarian cancer. She is one hell of a woman for managing to take on and beat her cancer. Lots of love to you Stephie xx The aim of this post is to hopefully help empower you guys to know what to look out for, to understand what it is and how it might affect your body. Ovarian cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in women. It occurs in the ovaries which are located low down in the tummy,…
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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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Chemo Round One Update
So, after my initial dose of Chemo in July we were sadly forced to take a break while I had surgery for a fistula that had formed between the top of my vagina and my bowel. Yup. Bowel and vagina. I was pooping through two holes for a bit (hey, I may as well tell it like it was). Stool in the vaginal area is a huge infection risk, meaning unless I agreed to a colostomy surgery I could no longer receive chemo. In the words of my consultant oncologist “it would be like giving you sepsis” – fair enough, I thought. “I’ll take the surgery then” I said. She…
