08-Oct-2012 - bowel cancer
We were both called to the hospital for a chat with the cancer consultant and to have various blood tests. Two weeks later another meeting. I heard the words "cancer" and "terminal" in the same sentence. And "may have spread to liver and lungs". Eek! Even if there might have been the word "not" in there somewhere, I never heard it. We went home, sat in the kitchen and didn't know what to do. We'd never dreamed of those two words together. Do we phone the kids? Do we draw the curtains, a totally daft thought but there it was? It seemed like the end. We'd never thought of dying, we were immortal. They said it was OK to go for a weekend in Paris with friend Catherine, good to raise the soul, which we did! Then followed chemo every week (usually the same people in the waiting room, Joy got them all doing crosswords) interrupted over New Year by radio therapy every day for 5 weeks, very intrusive of life. The surgeon who operated later said that the chemo had worked wonders, but the radio hadn't done anything. Surgery was 20 May 2013, Thereafter I lived with a stoma bag for a year, another provider of exciting experiences, not all bad. Go to the loo when you want, just empty the bag. But don't drink home made beer that keeps on fizzing in the bag. You don't want it to burst! Stoma bag reversal 17 March 2014.
