So for Christmas this year I start my first session of chemotherapy to treat bowel cancer this Friday 23rd Dec.
Not something I thought I’d ever be writing as a 39 year old, who is lean, fairly fit, a non smoker, not a big drinker and with a reasonable diet. I’m young, normal, married with a 4 year old and a 1 year old. It couldn’t happen to me right?!
There weren’t many warning signs for me at all. I started getting really noticeable abdominal / stomach pains this year Feb/March and slowly they got horrendous to the point I felt like I was being stabbed and couldn’t do anything or when the pain came on I had to stop what I was doing and felt like screaming until the pain passed. Initially I thought it was stress or something so tweaked my diet, gave myself outlets outside of work (reading / Xbox) to relax.
That didn’t work, so I went to the Dr and after trying a low fodmap diet plan for a month (IBS), doing various medical tests, more calls/emails to the dr, lots of tablets and medicine and a visit to the hospital it was getting worse, not better.
I was losing weight, losing energy, finding it hard to eat and not able to function normally and was being sick a lot and not really able to go to the toilet anymore.
I limped into A & E on the 17th Oct. I’ve never been so weak and ill in my life. An X-ray and Ct scan showed my large intestine was completely blocked by a growth and I needed an emergency operation immediately.
After the first major op, something failed inside and I was leaking poo internally and had to have a 2nd major life changing op 5 days later otherwise I would have got sepsis and would have been dead in 2 weeks.
I ended up having 2/3rds of my large intestine removed and some surrounding tissue (lymph nodes) romoved and am now 1 in 335 people who have a stoma.
Sadly the growth was a large horrible tumour that turned about to be bowel cancer. It was cut out along with 50+ lymph nodes as it had started to spread. The Drs have cut out everything they can see, so now I’m about to start chemotherapy for a while to see if we can clear up anything that may be left floating around in my body that the surgery(s) didn’t cut out and get it before it does anymore damage. Hopefully things go in my favour now and in the future.
My stomach muscles and all that area were majorly affected by the surgeries and I also got an abdominal infection followed by a chest infection. I lost 3 stone and couldn’t do anything at all and was pretty much an awake vegetable for a while. I ended up in hospital for 39 days and have been building up weight, strength and my immune system at home recently and have recently been able to walk independently as of 7 days ago.
I’m making very good progress overall, all things considered and look for the wins each day and I’m going to throw the kitchen sink at it. I’m a person, a man, a husband, a father and now a fighter and I have a lot to fight for.
It’s been the most difficult, painful and horrendous experience I’ve ever had. So with that in mind, I would like it if no one else ever has to go through it.
If anyone ever has something going on with their health and youre not sure, PLEASE get it checked out, don’t take a gamble, or if like me and you’re not sure it’s the right answer, keep pushing and knocking on the door until you get the right answer. It might be small and nothing to worry about, it might be something that can improve your quality of life, or it might end up being something that could buy you a few more years or save your life!
This is not a stupid picture, or a funny one liner, so a lot of people won’t bother to read all of it. This is also not a sympathy post. I don’t want sympathy, or people to feel sorry for me or give me a metaphorical pat on the head, I’m not a dog. I’m one of many, 1 in 2 who will be affected by cancer in their lifetime.
If you’ve read this far, thanks and just remember the bit above, *go and get yourself checked out if something doesn’t seem right.*
Have a good Christmas and New Year. Make it a good one!🎅🌲🎁🔴🔵🔴🔵
Not something I thought I’d ever be writing as a 39 year old, who is lean, fairly fit, a non smoker, not a big drinker and with a reasonable diet. I’m young, normal, married with a 4 year old and a 1 year old. It couldn’t happen to me right?!
There weren’t many warning signs for me at all. I started getting really noticeable abdominal / stomach pains this year Feb/March and slowly they got horrendous to the point I felt like I was being stabbed and couldn’t do anything or when the pain came on I had to stop what I was doing and felt like screaming until the pain passed. Initially I thought it was stress or something so tweaked my diet, gave myself outlets outside of work (reading / Xbox) to relax.
That didn’t work, so I went to the Dr and after trying a low fodmap diet plan for a month (IBS), doing various medical tests, more calls/emails to the dr, lots of tablets and medicine and a visit to the hospital it was getting worse, not better.
I was losing weight, losing energy, finding it hard to eat and not able to function normally and was being sick a lot and not really able to go to the toilet anymore.
I limped into A & E on the 17th Oct. I’ve never been so weak and ill in my life. An X-ray and Ct scan showed my large intestine was completely blocked by a growth and I needed an emergency operation immediately.
After the first major op, something failed inside and I was leaking poo internally and had to have a 2nd major life changing op 5 days later otherwise I would have got sepsis and would have been dead in 2 weeks.
I ended up having 2/3rds of my large intestine removed and some surrounding tissue (lymph nodes) romoved and am now 1 in 335 people who have a stoma.
Sadly the growth was a large horrible tumour that turned about to be bowel cancer. It was cut out along with 50+ lymph nodes as it had started to spread. The Drs have cut out everything they can see, so now I’m about to start chemotherapy for a while to see if we can clear up anything that may be left floating around in my body that the surgery(s) didn’t cut out and get it before it does anymore damage. Hopefully things go in my favour now and in the future.
My stomach muscles and all that area were majorly affected by the surgeries and I also got an abdominal infection followed by a chest infection. I lost 3 stone and couldn’t do anything at all and was pretty much an awake vegetable for a while. I ended up in hospital for 39 days and have been building up weight, strength and my immune system at home recently and have recently been able to walk independently as of 7 days ago.
I’m making very good progress overall, all things considered and look for the wins each day and I’m going to throw the kitchen sink at it. I’m a person, a man, a husband, a father and now a fighter and I have a lot to fight for.
It’s been the most difficult, painful and horrendous experience I’ve ever had. So with that in mind, I would like it if no one else ever has to go through it.
If anyone ever has something going on with their health and youre not sure, PLEASE get it checked out, don’t take a gamble, or if like me and you’re not sure it’s the right answer, keep pushing and knocking on the door until you get the right answer. It might be small and nothing to worry about, it might be something that can improve your quality of life, or it might end up being something that could buy you a few more years or save your life!
This is not a stupid picture, or a funny one liner, so a lot of people won’t bother to read all of it. This is also not a sympathy post. I don’t want sympathy, or people to feel sorry for me or give me a metaphorical pat on the head, I’m not a dog. I’m one of many, 1 in 2 who will be affected by cancer in their lifetime.
If you’ve read this far, thanks and just remember the bit above, *go and get yourself checked out if something doesn’t seem right.*
Have a good Christmas and New Year. Make it a good one!🎅🌲🎁🔴🔵🔴🔵
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