November to Remember - a battle with bowel cancer

When I first found out I had bowel cancer, I was in an intensive care bed surrounded by nurses and machinery, and had tubes coming out of places in my body you wouldn't have thought possible! I didn't have the luxury of diagnosis, my family and I hit the ground running, and was put onto the harsh road of reality as to how devastatingly hard battling with this form of cancer can be. Not only did I have bowel cancer at the age of 30, I had it in advanced aggressive stages, cancer grade dukes C, and already had 10 hours of surgery resulting in an ieliostomy and peritonitis, so you can imagine the road to recovery was in no way straightforward.

I chose to fight this disease, as I had a husband and a young family of 5 depending on me to get well, which in itself is a heavy load to bear, but even more so when the road ahead of you is both unknown and fraught with despair.

I say despair as during the treatments I underwent, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, as soon as you feel you have things under control, something comes along and smacks you right between the eyes, for every good day you have you can possibly have 2 bad ones, one step forward two back so to speak, and it was like that for us for just over 2 years. Yes we certainly did feel like giving it all up, at one point we even packed up the car with the children and went to drive off (Scotland I think it was), hoping we could leave all of our troubles behind us and trudge off through the heather, but realistically, this was one ride you had to see through to the end, there was no getting off.

I searched the internet for websites which contained both an answer as to why I had this cancer and also for a cure.  I found  no answer to either of those questions, but I did find sites which helped me to realise I was not alone, although at my age  still extremely rare indeed.

2 years on I consider myself to be a new person, as far too much has happened to step into the shoes I wore before this all began, but this is not necessarily a bad thing.

I am far more confident now and although will always live with bowel cancer lurking in the back of mind I have learned to live with it, and have managed to build a life from the ruins that were left of my old one. Well, if anyone had told me 2 years ago in intensive care that I would be building a website and written a book, I would have put them on medication! Back then I couldn't even open my eyes without being in excruciating agony, so it does just go to show, that although time can never heal everything it can put distance between the good and the bad.

I wrote A November To Remember with total honesty and a humour which I found got us through, believe me if someone ever has to put a cork in your bum, you really have no alternative but to laugh, trust me I've been there!

Thank you for reading, and look forward ,never back.

visit www.justamummy.blogspot.com a bit of lighthearted fun to show that there is life after this thing!

Tarynx