Hi guys
So you can probably see already this is not going to be a pc blog. Its just I tormented over whether to say "guys and gals" (no just too Jimmy Saville) or be more formal "Hello Ladies and Gentleman", well you get the idea so please please forgive me and no offense meant to everyone out there who may pluck up a bit of courage and read my musings. I don't intend to do religious texts either or poetry (can only write rude limericks anyhow) or anything other than my thoughts which will be the real me giving vent to everything good and bad.
The one thing I have noticed already is that some family and friends have not even got in touch since I got diagnosed. Are they embarrassed, probaby feeling awkward, don't know what to say etc etc. Well let me say it for you - I HAVE CANCER. Please come up to me and give me a hug, wish me well it really really matters. I of course don't blame these people. I was like that a few weeks ago myself. But now it is major and I think we need to educate people not to shy away from it or us.
Heart attacks, strokes etc and its OK but cancer gets a bad press and who can blame it. It devastates families, and not just the patient but the carers too. The treatment is not a cosy pill glugged down with a sip of water and the after effects can last years but the more we can bring it into the open, one day perhaps we'll all feel able to not tippy toe around.
See, I got distracted, no wonder my wonderful husband Mark calls me "Soapbox Sue". Well the reason I decided to pick Macmillan website to do this blog, is that my neighbour (a cancer survivor) supports them and if all my friends, family, work colleagues all read this, then it will draw them to the site and perhaps encourage them to do something for the cause.
Apart from treating this as a form of therapy, I felt I needed to redress the balance a bit. A cancer survivor friend of my daughters said "Don't read about your disease on Google". So, yes, I immediately booted up the pc and started trawling through the statistics, pain filled experiences, deaths and it left me feeling so depressed I felt like giving up right there and then. I don't downplay any of it but wanted to write in a more hopefully cheerful way and just maybe now and again give someone something to smile at. I know they'll be highs and lows, tears etc along the way and it will be tough but I really do believe that being able to laugh as well as cry is as good a medicine as you can get.
Anyhow, I never blogged before so I hope this is not too awful. And the next time I write well it'll be the beginning of my journey .......
