Well what can I say, I'm in among people who are going through the same as me.
My journey started 4 years ago last month. My dad was in a home and unfortunately was dying, Vascular Dementia, he had it for 14 years, anyway we all stayed with him for the full 3 weeks until he passed away, very peacefully. During this time, we were ordering in takeaway food, as you can imagine, all the wrong sort of food. It was during this 3 week period i noticed a change in my bowel habit. I put this down to the amount of junk food we had be consuming. Long story short, a visit to my doctors and 2 weeks later i was diagnosed with stage 3 bowel cancer.
Christmas 2016, was spent in hospital recovering from my op. i had my large intestine removed. February 2018, my 8 months of chemo started. Every 2 weeks for the eight month period I went into the hospital for chemo. I came home with the chemo attached and the nurses came on a Saturday to remove it. During this 8 month period I continued working, I was an estate agent at that time and was kept very busy. I also ran the office so had to make sure that the rest of the staff where carrying out their own work as well as helping me with some of the more difficult tasks. I found it hard to open my car door when it was cold as my fingers were numb. Some of the things we take for granted weren't that easy anymore.
Anyway, all went well until March 13th 2020. After my routine scan for my bowel cancer [my consultant kept me under her care for another 2 years, and thankfully this was a life saver] I was diagnosed with secondary lung cancer. I was operated on on May 11th 2020. Part of my lung was removed and I recovered well, although I am scanned every 3 months to be safe.
September 2020, my routine mammogram, which had been delayed from May due to Covid 19, picked up an irregularity and I was diagnosed with breast cancer on the 21st September. I have been put on Letrozole as my breast consultant doesn't want to operate so soon after my last op. I have a few side effects from this med, but I can cope.
Its a long blog and I'm sorry if you're now bored of my ramblings but I wanted to say, as many of you already know positivity is a great thing. I believe deep down that if I wasn't as positive as I am that I might not be here.
I gave up work, not because I couldn't cope but because there is much more to life than money and stress. I know I'm lucky as my husband works but I have had to cut back on all the luxuries I liked. I don't regret giving up my work. I spend so much meaningful time with my family now.
I'm looking forward to reading everyones stories, so many people on this site with inspirational stories.
Good luck to everyone and hopefully speak to you all soon.
Connie x
