I had colon cancer eleven years ago and have been well and healthy ever since. I have tried to eat healthily and keep active if not fit! My life was busy with a demanding job and four beautiful grandchildren.
I had a stomach bug in the summer which didn't clear up and I felt sick with no appetite when on holiday with my family. The fear of cancer never leaves you and every ache or pain causes me to worry. I knew my symptoms were worse due to stress but eventually decided I needed to get checked. I was referred to a consultant and was relieved when the CT scan was clear. I had an endoscopy which he said looked fine but he had taken a couple of biopsies.
I felt so much better and my appetite returned and I was convinced it had all been caused by me stressing! I was absolutely shocked when three weeks later one of the biopsies came back as positive for gastric cancer!
That weekend was just awful - I was catapulted back to that time eleven years ago - almost to the day!! I then had a laparoscopy and two MRIs on my liver. The biopsies were negative apart from one in the same area as the first one. The MRI on my liver were due to some abnormalities which they now don't think are cancer.
It is a Signet Ring Cell Carcinoma - which is rare but aggressive! Oh how I wish I hadn't 'googled' it
There was a discussion with the oncologist as to whether I should have chemo before surgery but my view is that you never regret having chemo but you may regret not having it!
So tomorrow I start the first of three cycles of ECX!
I have found a number of things have helped me in the last four weeks - my family and wonderful friends, advice on this website - thank you especially to greg777 who helped me deal with the sudden change to my life! The new normal .....
Doing things I enjoy and finding the App Headspace was so good in helping me deal with the anxiety and worry.
I am feeling apprehensive about the chemo but also want to get started and deal with whatever I have to cope with!
