One of the shitty things about being human is that some of us sometimes get really sick. A will-I-live-or-will-I-die sort of sick. As a collective we spend our lifetime trying to outrun our own mortality so being forced to face it makes people feel a bit ick inside. We feel inadequate because we don’t know what to do or the right thing to say. The thing is when someone gets sick (the live-or-die kind of sick) there is no right thing to say. But if there was, ‘let me know if you need anything’ (LMKIYNA) isn’t it. Continue reading “‘Let me know if you need anything.’”
In the last 3 months I’ve written plenty of things that should have made it on to my blog. Funny things, cancer-related things, non-cancer-related things. But they never seem to quite get there because I get distracted, or I get tired, or I worry it’s too negative, or I binge-watch something on Netflix. You’d think that not having to work would mean I had all the time in the world to be doing the things I want but it hasn’t really worked out that way. Continue reading “What comes next?”
2017 was a hell of a year. A year of starting again in so many ways. And a year of adventure. At this time last year my scar from my surgery was still open in 3 places (still with 5 months of healing ahead) and the crushing heat in a stifling summer was killing me, as were the incessant hot flushes of menopause. I was learning how to manoeuvre in my old world in the new and strangely empty body I had brought back from hospital. Continue reading “Hello 2018.”
Time to rest and recharge.
I can’t believe it is almost Christmas Day. No matter how prepared you are somehow you always seem to get behind and in a rush. So many things to be done in addition to the every day stuff that needs to be done. And this year it seems I broke myself. Continue reading “Time to rest and recharge.”
Travelling with a stoma.
Since having my ileostomy, packing for travel has required a little more planning. Before my recent trip to the US (more on that later in the week) a friend asked if I was packed and ready to go. “As long as I’ve got my passport and cash I’ll be fine,” I said. “And your shit bags,” he said. Oh yeah… Continue reading “Travelling with a stoma.”
1 year since surgery.
There are a lot of milestones in life. The firsts. The lasts. The anniversaries. The befores. The afters. Some milestones stand before us all and others are reserved for the select few – the lucky, the unlucky. Today is one of those milestones for me. It is a year ago today that I was wheeled in to surgery to rid my belly of cancer. Continue reading “1 year since surgery.”
Part and parcel of dealing with cancer is tests – blood tests, CT scans, MRIs. In the space of about a month last year I’d had two CT scans, a PET scan, two blood tests, an appointment with a gynaecological oncologist, a colonoscopy, gastroscopy and a laparoscopy. I felt like a radioactive pincushion. Continue reading “Scanxiety”
As we sat down to eat our breakfast this morning, it occurred to Naomi and I that yesterday’s post potentially left some people thinking that, by me stopping chemo, death was imminent! Continue reading “I’m not going anywhere yet!!”
It’s my body and I’ll do what I want to.
Sometimes, I really am really, really tempted to record a cancer/illness version of the 1963 hit It’s My Party. Continue reading “It’s my body and I’ll do what I want to.”
A year ago today, my world turned around forever. I started the day with a bit of tummy pain, expecting a CT scan to confirm possible appendicitis or a small bowel-related issue, and ended the day knowing I had cancer. Continue reading “One Year On…”