I have never written a blog before.
I don’t do social media.
I’ve not had cancer before my recent diagnosis.
So....according to eldest daughter who is seriously into blogging/writing/communicating with the world....now’s the time to start!
I have a sense of humour, sometimes wicked, sometimes just silly but to me laughter is an important part of life. And it’s the one thing I really don’t want to lose as part of this journey. Therefore I have decided to look for the things that make me laugh and I do realise that it might be tough some days.
I certainly wasn’t laughing when my GP decided to fast track me ( bless her) for a lump in the vulva which I thought was nothing sinister. How naive can a person be? Very soon I was sent for a biopsy and here’s where the first laugh happened - believe it or not!
Picture this - there I was in a ‘stranded beetle position’ waiting for the lovely doctor to get started, when the assisting nurse says,’ I recognise you from somewhere’. I instantly checked to see that it was my face she was looking at! And then I realised I had seen her before. ‘ Yes’ I said ‘I taught both your children’! We carried on chatting in a parents’evening sort of way whilst the biopsy was done. Fortunately her children were both lovely! Am glad she wasn’t a former pupil!
Distinct lack of laughter when days later cancer is confirmed. Tears and fears and then the Macmillan site. Youngest daughter worked with Macmillan on an internship after university and I always run a Mac coffee morning in our village. She encouraged me to take a look. So many stories and so many amazing people out there.
And so off to hospital the next day for a MRI scan and oddly hilarity! The nurse collected me saying ‘follow me’ which I did. She held open a door, and I walked around her assuming she was being polite - suddenly found myself in the airing cupboard! My fit of the giggles was not helpful when I was supposed to absolutely still for the scan.
I was handed over to bigger hospital for treatment and a date for surgery pencilled in. At the first meeting with lovely surgeon I had to resist the urge to head butt him when he announced another biopsy was required as not enough clarity with the previous one. He asked if he might take photos for my file. I said yes as long as he wasn’t putting them on face book. Everyone else laughed. I was actually being serious.
So two and a half weeks on and surgery planned for 3 days time. As the time gets nearer I am getting anxious but my lovely husband, 2 grown daughters and wonderful friends are making me laugh still! My first blog attempt may be the last for a time until I return home after surgery. I really hope I see some humour - maybe it will actually hurt to laugh. Only just had that thought.
