I am just over 2 years down the line from my Bowel cancer diagnosis. It has been a roller coaster, but at the moment everything is looking good. Let's go back to 2011. A strange year. My sister hit the age of 56, which was the age our mum died of leukaemia. The comment was made by both of us that at least we were ok (she being 56 and I was abouts to be 49) a couple of weeks later, she rang me at work and I could tell from her voice that something was wrong. She told me she had rectal cancer! She couldn't tell me to much else at that time as she had only just been diagnosed. My heart sank but I had to be strong for her. She had to have Radiotherapy then an operation to remove her lower bowel and a colostomy. She was told that it looked like she may be able to get it reversed but she had to have chemo. In the mean time I had been having a few bowel problems and was referred to the hospital to be checked out. It turned out that I also had bowel cancer, but higher up than my sis. So in Nov 2011 I went in to have the tumour removed. It was discovered that it had also gone to my lymph nodes and they were sure that they had removed enough of them at the time of the op. So in Jan 2012 I started my chemo. What a shock to the system that was. I was unable to work as my job is physically demanding with long hours. I still went to badminton but not every week just to try and feel a little bit normal. I then had a scan in Jul 2012 where it was found that I had swollen lymph nodes in my chest. I then went for a PET scan, but this was inconclusive. Next I was booked in for a lung biopsy. As you can imagine, this was a worrying time for me and my family. The swollen lymph nodes turned out not tone cancer, bit a disease called sarcoidosis (look that up). At that time I was nearly 19st. I hadn't lost any weight during the cancer treatment, but then started to shed weight rapidly. This is one of the effects of sarcoidosis. Meanwhile my sister had finished her chemo and was told that she would be able to have a reversal, which was done at the beginning of 2013. She has also just had another colonoscopy and all appears to be clear. I however, developed irregular bowel habits in Aug/Sept this year. I went to see my doc, but only got to see a locum. I explained the situation and she referred me back to the hospital, but did not examine me. This was on a Monday. By the following Saturday I had developed severe abdominal pain. I put this down to maybe having strained some muscles, as I had been doing some heavy lifting the day before. My wife said I should go to hospital as I started to feel ill. I told her I would go the next day if I was no better, but I then said this for the next couple of days, insisting I was ok. By the Tuesday, I had turned green and she dragged me to the hospital. I was admitted straight away. I had an emergency CT scan, where they said my appendix had burst and the was an anomaly with my bowel! I had an emergency appendectomy. When I went back to see the surgeon a couple of weeks later, he said it had actually gone gangrenous and this is why my bowel looked odd too. He then told me I needed to come in for further surgery to repair a hernia. This is being done this Tuesday. So hopefully after that, I can get back to a normal life.
The point of this tale, is to let you know that diagnosis of cancer does not mean the beginning of the end. Look at me and my sister. We are both here to tell the tale. And no matter what else happens, in a lot of cases, you can get though this.
